10W for June 3rd, the Holy Trinity Sunday.

The following is a 10 minute worship for June 3rd, the Holy Trinity Sunday. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Better than Life" by Acappella from the CD "Acappella Gold"  which can be purchased HERE

 

Poem based on John 3:1-17

John 3:1-17

Holy Trinity Sunday

Perched high in our own protection

we search

looking for that one someone out there

who will give us

                almost

what we are looking for

that one someone who will drag us along

on coattails of almost making it

We search the crowd

                busy and on its way

for one

lover

                                friend

                                                teacher

who will give us that edge

                that way

of fulfilling the desires within

sitting here

perched up high and finding nothing

in a world busy preaching but not hearing

I don’t even see the scene change

                (God)

Suddenly a newness splits the air

and is sucked into our

                lungs

                                heart

                                                soul

almost painfully filled with life

                (so loved the world)

drawing us onward into the crowd

                (that Christ was given)

of life and death swirled together

                (that whoever)

in search

                (believes)

of the fullness that must come

                (lives)

from out there somewhere

Opening Litany based on Psalm 29

Psalm 29

Pastor: Give everything to the Lord all you heavenly beings. Give to the Lord all the glory and strength due the holy name of the Lord.

Congregation: We will worship the LORD in the splendor of the Lord’s holiness.

Pastor; The voice of the LORD is over the waters; full of glory it thunders over all the mighty waters of the earth.

Congregation:  The voice of the LORD is powerful and majestic able to break even the mighty cedars of Lebanon.

Pastor: And yet, the Lord brings joy. 

Congregation: The Lord makes Lebanon leap like a calf and Syria like a young wild ox.

Pastor: The voice of the LORD strikes like flashes of lightning and shakes the Desert of Kadesh.  The powerful voice of the LORD twists the mighty oaks and can strip the forests bare.

Congregation: At the might of the Lord all the people cry Glory!

Pastor: The Lord sits enthroned as King forever over all creation

Congregation: The LORD gives strength to the people and blesses them with the ability to live in peace.

Analyze or worship

Sunday June 3^rd, Psalm 29: All of you angels in heaven honor the glory and power of the LORD! Honor the wonderful name of the LORD, and worship the LORD most holy and glorious. The voice of the LORD echoes over the oceans. The glorious LORD God thunders above the roar of the raging sea, and his voice is mighty and marvelous.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  Then God formed Humans from the Humus, or we could say Earthlings from the Earth and breathed into them the Breath of Life, the Ruack, what we call the Holy Spirit.  It is this spirit, from the beginning of time that gave and gives life.  God created all.  We can get into debates over how that creation took place, or how long it took etc.  We can look at the big bang theory and see the voice of God or if we want, the folly of man.  We can have our debates over whether the stories in the Bible are about the creator and the creation or about the creator and the how of creation.  Or we can look at all that surrounds us and consider, with wonder, honor, and holiness, and science, the creator behind it all.  Analyze or worship, it is an option, although a poor one.  We can both analyze and worship and find greater enlightenment in both in the process.  

scientific certainty

Monday June 4^th, Isaiah 6: Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said, "Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out." And then I heard the voice of the Master: "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" I spoke up, “I'll go. Send me!" Strange figures with six wings flying around, hot coals touching your lips, sometimes fantasy is the only way to describe that which is holy because sometimes that which is holy is beyond description.  Some may take offense at calling it fantasy and may want to call it real, actual, factual, you are free to do so if it works for you.  But for me that only serves to distract from the wonder.  If I can truly grasp and understand the mysteries of God, they are no longer mysteries.  And if I can claim that I can grasp these mysteries and you cannot, then it is simply ego which is another kind of fantasy all together.  Fundamentalism as a way to look at scripture only tries to strip the wonder from religion and replace it with scientific certainty, all while doing a nice little dance to reject science.  I prefer to be awed by the wonder, the story, the myth, the beauty and the poetry of God.  Be awed by God and enjoy the majesty of the Creator who came into the world to bring beauty and life, real life, to the likes of you and me.  If it sounds like fantasy to you, then perhaps you open to seeing the beauty and wonder too.    

Fear or Faith

Tuesday June 5^th, Romans 8: 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  I have heard that the opposite of faith is not non-faith, or non-believing, but fear.  Fear traps us, controls us and sends us down paths of ill design.  Fear controls the electorate and sells ill begotten programs that yield great wealth for a few, great misery for the many.  Faith on the other hand gives us hope, fills our life with possibility and lets us know we are loved.  What faith gives to life is, well….., life.  Faith is God breathing into some lump of clay eons ago and having it come to life.  Faith is nurturing these dirt creatures into beings that perhaps someday would learn to love and accept one another as brothers and sisters all made in the image of the creator and from the dust of the earth.  Faith is those same lumps of breathing clay knowing this life breathing creator is with us and will be with us always, even beyond time, no matter how bad we screw up.  There have always been some down through the history of humanity that would like to combine fear and faith and even some who would like to equate fear with faith.  To have faith you must fear homosexuality, to have faith you must fear terrorism and anyone who does not look, speak or worship like you do is a terrorists.  Fear blinds your eyes to the presence of God in these “others” and not see them as your brothers and sisters.   To have faith you must live right and follow all the rules and go to the right church which will tell you what all the rules are and throw in a little gospel for good measure.  It’s all just 1984ish doublespeak.  You are a child of God, loved by God, saved by God through Christ and called to live as a child of God.  You are not perfect and never will be, but you are loved with a perfect love and always will be.  It is like the difference between loving your child because they are your child and loving your child because they keep their room clean all the time, do all their chores around the house, always come home on time and always check in.  We never do it all right all the time.  I like God’s way, to love us because we are.  That way there is no fear, only faith.  

Pure Grace

Wednesday June 6^th, Romans 8: And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.  God, the creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them has invited you and I to come and sit in his lap.  We cry, “Abba Father”, we cry Papa, loving parent.  We cry, tell me a story, hold me in your arms, let me take a nap here in your loving presence, Abba, Pappa, Father, Mother, Loving God Creator.  God responds with open arms and open heart and open love.  There is no greater sign of grace in all scripture than this simple Abba, Father.  It is all the feelings and love of crawling up in the lap of a loved one and having them read you a book, rock you, and hold you until you fall gently and peacefully into a peaceful and loving sleep.  It is The sign of Grace, Pure Grace.

Nick

Thursday June 7^th, John: 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."  Nick at night, it’s more than just a children’s TV show; it is a sign of chaos.  It is a sign of the darkness and fear present in the world we live in.  The source of the fear is that we have tried to recreate this world that God gave us our image.  Nicodemus was a member of the ruling council, a teacher, a man of God, drawn out into the dark of night by a nagging wonder of hope in the midst of that fear.  He was hiding not from God but from the others in the ruling council as he went to seek something new, seeking to perhaps grasp the wonder of this hope.  He was drawn by the miracles of Jesus, but what he found was the real miracle of God, salvation.  He was drawn out of the chaos of this world we have made in our image and into the light, to live as a beacon of light in a world that to this day prefers the fear of darkness to the glory and wonder of light.  We too are drawn out of our chaos of our lives and into the light of Christ, out of the darkness of fear and into the light of faith.  And as we are drawn we move with Nick from the night of fear into the light where we find the love of Christ has surrounded us all along, it is just that in the darkness we couldn’t see it.  

it blows

Friday June 8^th, John 3: 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."  If you try to get a handle on the wind, you are doomed to failure.  You can use windmills, sails, etc. and capture some of its power, but put it in a jar and it just is not the same thing.  The same is true of the Spirit.  The Spirit is not captured by speaking in tongues, lively worship, deep reading and meditation or anything else we do.  We are not in charge of the Spirit.  The Spirit moves where it will and when it will and always leads us quietly back to God.  The spirit can move things and cannot be captured in a jar, but it can be refreshing in your face and helpful at your back and in your life.  It blows wherever it pleases, and brings the grace of God with it wherever it goes.  

lens

Saturday June 9^th, John 3:  16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. This is one of the great memory verses in all of scripture.  It is a message of comfort and joy to many.  On the other hand I have seen this well-known text used as judgment, used to say that everyone who does not believe in Jesus the way I do is condemned.  Verse sixteen by itself can be and often is misused.  Taken alone it is a pat on the back and a stroke of the ego.  Verse 16 by itself often is viewed as being about me and my beliefs.   But taken with the next verse it is a gift from God.  Jesus came into the world to save the world, not condemn it, and that is what gives verse 16 its meaning.  Hold onto verse 17 as a qualifier for the way you view scripture.  It is the lens that helps us see the family of God rather than a single lonely path.  It is the lens that helps us see grace.  

MEMORIAL DAY PRAYER by William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

Gracious God, whose own Son's term of service to humanity was so full that its brevity was no distress, we call to mind on this Memorial Sunday those who will not grow old as we are left to grow old, those whose lives were too brief for us but long enough, perhaps, for thee. Forgive us that they died so young because we were too unimaginative, too imperious, too indifferent, or just too late to think of better ways than warfare to conduct the business of the world. Gratefully, we remember the generosity that prompted them to share the last of their rations, the last pair of dry socks, to share in the course of one hour in the foxhole more than most of us care to share with one another in a lifetime. And we recall the courage that made more than one of them fall on the grenade there was no time to throw back.

Grant, O God, that they may not have died in vain. May we draw new vigor from past tragedy. Buttress our instincts for peace, sorely beleaguered. Save us from justifications invented to make us look noble, grand and righteous and from blanket solutions to messy, detailed problems. Give us the vision to see that those nations that gave the most to their generals and least to their poor were, throughout all history, the first to fall. Most of all, give us the vision to see that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth, too small for anything but love. Through Jesus Christ our Savior, who became what we are to make us what he is. Amen.

Foodstock IV article in the ADN

Another nice article in the Anchorage Daily News about our church.  This is on the Foodstock concerts. Click HERE to read the article on Foodstock IV

The gifts of God

1st Corinthians 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.
 There is a quote that is often attributed to Saint Francis, "Preach the Gospel everyday, if necessary use words". Too often Christians limit the ways that they can spread the Good News. There is this belief that unless you are preaching, or writing books, or in some cases speaking in tongues, than you are not really using a "spiritual gift". That is hogwash, there are so many gifts, and so many opportunities everyday to change lives and share the message of God's love. Some of you are teachers, and you mold young lives. Some of you are accountants and your work allows business to stay open and pay their employees. Some of you are servers and you provide joy and a meal to complete strangers. Some of you are parents and you raise children who will change the world. All gifts, all skills that we possess are works of the Spirit, if they are done for the benefit of our neighbor. Every moment in our lives is a moment where we can use the gifts we have to help those in need, even if it is something as simple as a smile to a stranger. God has given you the gifts of the Spirit, use them.  

Blessing of the Toys and Tools of summer based on Psalm 66

In Alaska, the summers are short and intense.  On the last Sunday of May I have a blessing of the toys of summer.  I place a blue adhesive "Prayer Dot" on the items to remind them of God's presence and blessing with them as they enjoy these gifts.  I also encourage them to offer a prayer for the congregation whenever they see the blue dot as a reminder that we are all part of the family of God in this place and also a reminder to return from time to time over the summer and in the fall.  I also remind them of our on-line giving, our 10W worship which they get through email on their smartphones, and our web radio where they can tune in to worship on computer or smartphone.   

Blessing of the Toys and Tools and final Benediction

Closing Litany based on Psalm 66: 8-20

Worship Leader: Come all you people, let us praise the Lord our God.  Let the sound of our Praise be heard over all the land and in every heart.

Congregation: For the Lord has preserved our lives and keep us from slipping off the path of grace.  The Lord has made us pure as fine silver by testing us with this world of self-help and busy business.

Worship Leader: You gave us toys, entertainment and other shinny things to try that can at times draw us away from your grace.

Congregation: You let others catch our eye and our heart and lay the burden of abundance on our backs, tempting us to leave you behind as we sought only the god of self. 

Worship Leader: I will not succumb to these temptations but rather spend time in your presence O Lord and fulfill the vows I spoke in times of trouble. 

Congregation: I will give back from the abundance you have given me, offering up to you my heart, my treasures, and my time.

Worship Leader: Come gather and hear all you who walk as the children of God, hear what the Lord has done for us.  We raised our voices in Praise before our God, and the Lord God heard our praise and blessed us.  If we had cherished only sin and selfish desires, our noise would have drowned out the word of God’s grace and we would still be longing, seeking for something more in life, trying to fill the void with only our toys and tools. 

Congregation: We acknowledge your grace in the gifts you have given us and we will praise you O Lord our God with our voice, our time, and our deeds, for the Lord has heard our prayers and has responded with love and grace. 

Worship Leader: Bless these gifts O Lord that you have given us for the enjoyment of your creation. 

Congregation: We will care for and nourish the gift of this world, and remember You each day O Lord our God as the creator of the universe. 

Worship Leader: You have been given the gift of enjoyment of this beautiful summer.

Congregation: We will bless each day with prayer and see in every stroke of the gulf club, fish on the line, every mile driven and in the beauty of every sunset, a gift given to us by God.

Worship Leader: Remember therefore, all we have, all we love, every moment of beauty, time with loved ones, relaxation and enjoyment in life is a gift of God.

Congregation: As we go into the world this summer we will love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind.  We will love our neighbor as ourselves, and we will remember every smile in our heart as a gift from God, remembering God’s grace and remembering our Christian family in all that we do.  Amen!!

Worship Leader: Let the Summer Begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10W for May 31st, the visit of Mary to Elizabeth.

The following is a 10 minute worship for May 31st, the visit of Mary to Elizabeth. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Magnificat" by Tod Agnew from the CD "Do You See what I See"  which can be purchased HERE

 

10W for May 27th NL, the Gifts of the Spirit.

The following is a 10 minute worship for May 27th NL, the Gifts of the Spirit. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"The Church Song" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "One Body Alive"  which can be purchased HERE

 

10W for May 27th, the Day of Pentecost.

The following is a 10 minute worship for May 27th, the Day of Pentecost. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Breathe" by Alen Salte and the Break Forth Band from the CD "Break Forth Vol. 4" which can be purchased HERE

 

10W for May 26th, The Vigil of Pentecost.

The following is a 10 minute worship for May 26th, The Vigil of Pentecost. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"The Spirit Intercedes for Us" by Dakota Road from the CD "All Are Welcome" which can be purchased HERE

 

Opening Litany based on Psalm 104:24-34

Worship Leader: Lord, In your wisdom you have made all thing in this world.  The earth, the heavens, the skies and the seas are full of your riches.

Congregation: As I look out over the vastness of the seas alone, I am in awe at their magnificence and magnitude. They are filled with life, known and unknown are are a place where creatures large and small play.   

Worship Leader: All of life is dependent upon You O Lord and you supply for their needs at the right time.

Congregation: When you give O Lord, there is more than enough for all to live and eat well, with abundance left over. 

Worship Leader: In your absence is anxiety and fear.  In your absence is scarcity and want, with abundance for some and starvation for others. 

Congregation: But when you spirit moves in this world, life is created.  Life for ourselves, and life for the whole world.  For you make all things new.

Worship Leader: May the glory of the Lord be forever and may the Lord look upon this creation and smile.

Congregation:  I will sing to the Lord all my life; singing praises to my God as long as I live and ask only that my thoughts be pleasing to the Lord, and bring me joy.  

Poem based on Pentecost in John 15

What shall we do without you

here

to guide us?

To set us straight and hold our hand

to show us the way we are to go?

We will be lost

we will perish

                without you Christ

all that you have taught us

all that you have lead us to

all that we have come to know

                feel

                love

lost

and Jesus turned to them

my children

I will love you as you have been loved

from the beginning of time

when the breath of spirit brought life

I will be with you as from the beginning of time

when the spirit of life was breathed

into your mother and father

I will be with you as from the beginning of time

and you will know

                feel       

                love

the presence of the living God

listen and follow

as from the beginning of time

Sunday May 27^th, Acts 2: They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  Speaking in tongues was not for the gratification or uplifting of those speaking, it was a gift of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of spreading the good news of God’s new chapter in the salvation story to the gathered multitudes.  The spirit moved the disciples out of the locked upper room where they were hiding and into the streets where they encountered the needs of the people.  The spirit did not leave them alone even now.  They were not done and this was just the beginning.  From here the spirit moved them from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria and onto the rest of the world.  The spirit moved them into the hearts and minds of you and I in our time and place. The spirit gave them the tools and the ability to minister to the needs of the people they encountered.  So too, the spirit gives us the ability to minister to the needs of those around us, the hungry, the poor, those left out of the American dream as well as to those caught up in the relentless pursuit of the American dream to the point where they can’t see the needs of the poor.  The spirit opens our eyes and hearts as well as our ears, and calls us to see one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and truly love one another, in action, as we would love Christ.  Sometimes the Spirit moves us out of our hiding places and into the world where we find opportunities to minister, and to be ministered too.  Being open to being ministered to is often the most undeveloped part of ministry. Without that two way street, we are only preaching, and of that the world already has too much.  

Monday May 28^th, Acts 2: Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?  Not only were these Galileans speaking to multiple nationalities each in their own language, but they were Galileans for heaven’s sake!  Why would anyone want to listen to Galileans while in Jerusalem?  The Spirit breaks down our misconceptions about one another by bringing us in contact with one another.  It is there with the spirit holding our eyes and our hearts open that we are able to see the other as a brother or sister in Christ. It is sort of a round robin, the Spirit leads us to Christ, Christ leads us to the world, where through the Spirit, and we not only lead but our eyes are opened to the vastness of God’s love in this world, and then we are lead back to Christ, only with our eyes a bit more open this time.  It is not just to our own, those who think, act, believe and look like us to whom we are called to minister; it is to the children of God throughout the world, where in the process, we find ourselves ministered to by these formerly known to us only as “other, and walls of seperation broken asunder.  This is the message of Christ, this is the call of Christ, to go into all the world to preach and teach the good news, starting at home and moving outward to the ends of the earth.  We are also called to go into all the world and not just tell the Good New, but to actually “do” the Gospel, bring hope, justice, and peace into a hurting world.  In the process we find this is where we find we receive hope, justice and peace for our world.  We are called to do this, not because we will gain from it, but because all the children of God, and that includes ourselves, will live in hope because of it.  

Tuesday May 29^th,  Romans 8: 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  We live in the “mean” time.  Christ has given us a glimpse of the kingdom, where all are welcome, all are cared for and loved and all are the children of God. Now we are sent by the spirit to bring about that reality in this world.  It is not just the people of this world that long for the redemption of the world, it is all of creation itself.  We are all created in a threefold relationship, a relationship with God the creator, a relationship with one another symbolized by the creation of community as Eve was created from Adam, and a relationship with the creation symbolized by the creation of humanity from the dust of the earth.  In this mean time, before the final glory of the fully inclusive New Jerusalem (Revelation 21) with her twelve open gates and food, healing and glory open to all, we are called to bring about peace and justice for all of humanity and all of creation, on this side of the resurrection.  We do this because the Spirit leads us back to our relationship with the Creator, the Creature, and the Creation from which we were formed.  That is how it all ends, that is God’s plan. We can get on board now and live in this loving relationship (heaven in the here and now) or fight it, insisting on our walls and legalities of separation and a broken relationship with Creator, Creature and Creation (hell in the here and now).  What is amazing is the number of people who claim a relationship with the creator, while dissing the other two (fantasy hell in the here and now). 

Wednesday May 30^th, Romans 8: 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  One of the deepest, most honest prayers I witnessed was when a friend of mine lost his mother suddenly and let out long and loud the F..bomb, with fists clinched and face turned heavenward.  I do not promote swearing as a part of prayer, but sometimes, in the intensity of the moment, words just seem unimportant.  God knows, God understands, God hears and God loves. Don’t worry about what to say in prayer, just say it from the heart, like on Pentecost, God will hear it in God’s own language.  With most of our prayers, we just get the surface stuff, deep down honesty, no matter the words used, are always the better prayer… they help change us.  Isn’t that what prayer is all about anyway, changing us? Use honest prayer today and see if your heart is not brought closer to God…. And God is not the one moving.

Thursday May 31^st, John 15:  26"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.  This is a message to the disciples, and through the spirit, the Gospel, the saints, to us.  Christ has been with us from the beginning and we are sent to testify about the love of Christ that has been with us from the beginning.  You say you don’t know what to say?   Good!!  All those practiced speeches end up sounding like, well, practiced speeches.  Let the Spirit intercede, though it may not sound like it to you, most likely, the one you are with will hear pure Gospel from the heart.  Answers to questions will come later because most of the time there are no right answers to the questions, only a path to walk with God.    

Friday June 1^st, John 15: 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.  Graduation day is upon us.  Soon many of our children will be going their own ways.  Over the next couple of years, the parents will grow wiser and their lessons more meaningful in the lives and minds of these youthful travelers.  So it is in the kingdom.  As long as Jesus was living here with us, the disciples could call upon him for answers.  Now that the Spirit leads us to come up with contextual answers on our own, looking to Christ for guidance through the word and the world, we are called on a journey with Jesus.  I wonder if the disciples and scripture writers wish they had listened more intently, taken better notes, and asked more questions?  I suspect, through the Spirit, what they heard and what we hear, though not all there is to know, is all that is needed for us to grow.  I suspect it is the Spirit leading us through the process of wrestling with the issues that we hear the Gospel the best.  It is in doing the Gospel that others, and we ourselves, hear the teachings of Christ in every imaginable situation.  The Gospel is more life than knowledge.  The Gospel in this world is our text book; the final vision with the gates of the new Jerusalem open to all is the equivalent of the answers in the back of the book just in case we get lost along the way.  

Saturday June 2^nd, John 15: 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.  One of the jobs of the Spirit is to convict us of our sin.  We are never given the spirit to help guide us in convicting others of their sin. It is not for us to convict “Others” of their sins.  When we try to live our lives focused on the sins of others, we keep chipping away at our life, forcing ourselves into an ever smaller and smaller world.  This seems to be what the political right is about these days. In the process, their world and ours becomes smaller, meaner, less jubilant.  In convicting us of “our” sins, especially the one of making the world smaller and smaller we find ourselves at the foot of the cross looking up at Christ.  It is there we find salvation, and that salvation is for “our” sins.  The Spirit leads us to Christ by removing the scales of sin from our eyes where we can truly see ourselves for who we are and others as our brothers and sisters with us on the journey.  

Common sense and Biblical

The finest confirmation stoles

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10W worship for May 26th, The Vigil of Pentecost.

The following is a 10 minute worship for May 26th, The Vigil of Pentecost. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"The Spirit Intercedes for Us" by Dakota Road from the CD "All Are Welcome" which can be purchased HERE

10W worship for May 20th, E7NL, Body Image in Corinth.

The following is a 10 minute worship for May 20th, E7NL, Body Image in Corinth. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"We're Family" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "One Body Alive"  which can be purchased HERE

 

10W worship for May 20th, E7, Sent Out.

The following is a 10 minute worship for May 20th, E7, Sent Out.  You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Children, Go where I send thee" by Sonny and Brownie from the CD "Just a Closer Walk With Thee"  which can be purchased HERE

 

10W worship for May 17th, Awesome Ascension

The following is a 10 minute worship for May 17th, Awesome Ascension. You can either listen on the flash player below or download it to your favorite music program to sync with your mp3 player by clicking on "DOWNLOAD" or play it on your smartphone's music player by clicking PLAY. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the 10W blog or on your phone by texting 10W to 22828. The song for the day is,"Awesome God" by Michael W. Smith from the CD "Worship"  which can be purchased HERE

 

Opening Litany based on Psalm 1

Pastor: Blessed are the ones who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand with sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but rather whose delight is in the ways of the LORD. 

Congregation: Blessed are the ones who meditate on the way and the word of the Lord day and night for they are like trees planted by streams of water. 

Pastor: They yield their fruit in season and their leaves do not wither.  Whatever they do, the Lord is with them and they seem to prosper.

Congregation: It is not so with the wicked!  They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Pastor: Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Congregation: For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the ways of the wicked will perish and they will see the errors of their ways. 

Poem for 7th Sunday after Easter John 17

As we are drawn

into the name

of God

with the same power

that created time

we are made one

With our wars

--designed in irony

--to solve conflict

we are one

With our hunger

in a world spending million

trying to look thin

we are one

In our jokes

rising from our inner fear

that point up our differences

we are one

With the power

that came to our world

to create

--and save

and to sustain we are one

Created in Your Name

Sanctified in Your Name

Sustained in Your Name

We are one

we thank you Lord

for the truth

that binds together

the many truths

--we have created

and that

We are One

Delighting in the law

Sunday May 20^th, Psalm 1: Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but rather blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the LORD.  Lutherans tend to not talk much about delighting in the law of the Lord. We use the excuse of works righteousness, which is a caution well worth heeding, especially given the strangle hold works righteousness has on American civil religion. But the law is important, and rather than letting the works righteousness voice dominate and frame the discussion, perhaps being bold in our discussion of law is the better avenue. Luther in his small catechism changed the way we look at the law from a list of don’ts to a list of do’s, with its inherent vision of a vengeful god (lower case intended because the very act is to bring God down and put ourselves in charge, the original sin), to the gift of possibilities in living the life of a child of God. Instead of not “bearing false witness” we are asked to take it upon ourselves to speak well of others and interpret what they do in the best light. Instead of not committing adultery, we are asked to respect others sexuality in all that it means, up to and including rights of all, regardless of sexual orientation, to live in the blessed state of matrimony. Instead of not stealing, we are asked to help our neighbor take care of all they have.  This interpretation might just include some serious consequences for those who had stolen our economy into its present crisis through the guise of deregulation. This would also speak to JPMorgan trying once again to win at the risky game of high finance through questionable practices. Delighting in the law is celebrating the gift of God in our lives and joyfully wanting to do what God wants us to be doing in this world. We only fear the law when we are trying to get away with something. Delighting in the law is letting God be God rather than paying lip service as we try to push ourselves to the top over the bodies of our victims.  Delighting in the law is realizing that the law pertains to us, and we are not in charge of judging our neighbor.  Delighting in the law means living as if there were no law, because the grace of God has so infused our lives that the law is not an issue in our lives.  Delighting in the law is living out our love for God and for others in this world God has created and called good.  

Part time religion will not support you anymore in life than a part time job.

Monday May 21^st, 1st John 5: 11 This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. We are called to live in the knowledge of this testimony, in the knowledge of being a child of God, live in the knowledge of knowing we are saved.  We are called to live knowing deep down in your heart that God will never leave you. Know with every essence of your being that life eternal with God is yours. Then ask yourself the question, now that you don’t have to do anything, what are you going to do? That is the question that should guide our lives. The danger isn’t whether or not we have earned salvation; the danger is leaving this gift of salvation by grace along the wayside as we go off after something else in life, something flashy and shiny.   Fanatics and atheists may not have their thinking on straight but in one way they have an advantage over most Christians, at the very least, they care deeply about what they believe.  It is the agnostics that I am concerned about in this world. They are the ones who have heard the good news of salvation and find it interesting but not all that important.  Salvation by grace means about as much as yesterday’s ham sandwich. What they are missing is knowing that their life is drenched in God’s love in their hearts, in their souls, in the essence of their beings and living each day in the midst of the joy that deep down knowledge brings. Not having to do anything for salvation is not a call to do nothing.  Part time religion will not support you anymore in life than a part time job.  Putting on a good set of clothes do not make the man, or the woman, it is what happens inside, in the darkness of doubt that counts.  Putting on religion as a fashion statement does little for the soul and our daily walk.  So don’t just put on religion, take it deep into the essence of your very being and live, truly live in the presence of the spirit each day. 

marrow

Tuesday May 22^nd,  1st John 5: 12 So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life. A good part of having life is to live it. Henry David Thoreau puts it “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”  In Christ we are given life, now and life to come. When we get caught up in being in charge rather than letting God be in charge, we keep busy, we even have some enjoyable moments, but somehow the why behind it all eludes us. Life becomes less than the gift intended in creation.  A Christian isn’t necessarily better or better off than anyone else, except that in some half-baked way, they have some idea who to thank in this life, and that life of thankfulness makes all the difference. In the process of living a life of thankfulness they find their hearts open even more to the blessings God is intent on bringing to each and every one of us in this world.  In living a life of thankfulness they find that this way of living makes all the difference in the world to themselves and all the difference in the world to the world. It’s what gives life, life and the freedom to live it in such a way so as to suck the very marrow out of it.  (if the idea of marrow disgusts you, there is a session of Iron Chef America you might be interested in).

by all means

Wednesday May 23^rd, 1st John 5: 13 My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. Eternal life with God is not something to hope for, it is not something to work for, it is something we are called to live in. Luther said to sin boldly, but rejoice more boldly still. Knowing salvation is ours frees us for service, not from service. Knowing salvation is ours sends us out into the world to bring that knowledge to others, and if in the process, we act very human and make mistakes upon mistakes, then rejoice more boldly still in God’s salvation, you tried and did your best. Salvation by Grace is not freedom from trying, it is the freedom to get out there and take risks for the sake of the Gospel.  If you fall on your nose in the process, celebrate that you took a risk for the sake of the Gospel and try it again (though you may want to tweak it a bit). So believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life and then live life to its fullest and take the risk of living and telling others of that gift from God in all that you think, do and say.  And by all means, enjoy yourself in the process. You are a child of God after all.  

take to the streets

Thursday May 24^th, John 17: They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that everything you gave me is firsthand from you, for the message you gave me, I gave them; What we have received from Jesus is all God wants us to know about God. We can speculate all we want about God up there in heaven and all we have is speculation. What God revealed to us in Jesus is that God comes to us in weakness (as the babe in the cattle stall) and is open to all (from the lowest of shepherds to the royal representatives from afar). God rejoices at the slightest turning from sin to Him (Luke 15) and has little patience with those who are full of themselves (Pharisees, Sadducees and those with power and wealth) and came to bring the message of political, social, economic and religious reform (Luke 4). To know the heart of Jesus is to know the heart of God and that should bring comfort and Joy to most and perhaps a little fear and trembling to some. Listening to the prevailing religious rhetoric of today one gets the feeling comfort and joy for all is not in the hearts of many. American civil religious discourse has taken a marked Pharisaic judgmental tone of late.  Rejoice Lutherans, we have work to do.  Put some Joy back into the word and into the lives of others.  It is the work of the church and the message of Grace.  Lutherans can no longer remain silent in our evangelism.  We must take to the streets with the message that our God is a God of love and grace.   

see people and God as one

Friday May 25^th, John 17: Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life that you conferred as a gift through me, so they can be one heart and mind as we are one heart and mind. That being one heart and one mind can be a little tricky. Sometimes it even tastes like eating crow. In a world that is reeling from the effects of tax cuts for the wealthiest among us coupled by benefit cuts for the poorest among us, some signs that we, as the children of God are not yet of one heart and mind might be found in this from www.thehungersite.com. “It is estimated that one billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. That's roughly 100 times as many as those who actually die from these causes each year. About 20,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. This is down from 35,000 ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five. Famine and wars cause about 10% of hunger deaths, although these tend to be the ones you hear about most often. The majority of hunger deaths are caused by chronic malnutrition. Families facing extreme poverty are simply unable to get enough food to eat. With CEO’s getting bail out packages in the millions and the economy just now starting to recover from the tailspin the last administration put us in, more and more on the bottom of the economic ladder are trying to get by with less and less, all while the minority party in DC wants to play games saying “no” to any help they can get their hands on while many are unsure of where their next meal will come from. Across the nation federal support for food banks has been cut by 40% because of negations with the GOP.  If the Ryan budget gets passed that would mean a 100% cut to support for food banks at a time when the need is at an all-time high.   Justice is often seen as the blindfolded woman holding the scales that are balanced.  We still have many large corporations and military industrial complexes pushing up on the bottom of their side of scale while they fill it even higher, and no one seeming to notice.  The GOP push on the economy is the antithesis of seeing the people of God as one.  

one, two, three

Saturday May 26^th, John 17: In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I'm consecrating myself for their sakes so they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission. The truth is that the Christian mission is not about pro-choice or anti-choice, not about who can get married and what their sexual orientation might be, or any of the other hot button issues out there.  Being a Christian is about living as a child of God, knowing salvation is yours and about loving as a child of God, knowing salvation is also theirs.  When you help the least, lost and lonely, you help a brother or sister in Christ, and you help Christ (Matt. 25).  When you help bring about justice (exemplified by balanced scales and economic justice) you are helping a brother or sister in Christ and you are helping Christ (Matt. 25).  When you consider war as your first option, you are killing a brother or sister in Christ and you are killing Christ (Matt. 25).  When God created the heavens and the earth, God called it good.  All too often when we see parts of the heavens and the earth out of our control and possible use for profit, we do not recognize the gift of creation from which we were formed as a gift for which all of humanity is called to be in relationship with. Recognizing that God called all of creation good is step one, doing something about it in the way we live is step two.  Celebrating with your new brothers and sisters here now and in the life to come is heaven is step three.  

Today's Confirmation Sermon based on Dr. Seuss

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

by

Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.

You have faith that will grow.

You know that God loves you

And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.

And when you decide don’t make the mistake

Of thinking that church is just second rate

Full of old people and old people thought

Because that is something we certainly are not

You’re part of us now so help us find ways

To make God a part of all of your days

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

For salvation’s by grace

From the God up in Heaven

So beware of those Pharisee’s

and all of that leaven

it can puff you all up and fill you with pride

till you think you’re in charge

without God by your side

that’s not a good street

you’ll not want to go down

and there’s many to choose from

they’re all around town

so study them well, take your time, don’t rush

don’t just follow the crowd or get on the wrong bus

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

And you’ll soon discover God

is even out there

For no matter the direction

Whether here or over there

You’re never alone, God is already there

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!

With the spirit to guide you

It won’t be just luck

With the Spirit inside you
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

And have lots of admirers

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

And when you get banged up

Don’t worry or fret

You’re not there alone

So don’t give up just yet.

You’re surrounded by love

You’re surrounded by hope

So now’s not the time

To sit around and mope

There are dangers that lurk

In this down and out place

But take the time to regroup

‘cause life’s not a race

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will always need friends

Someone from the church

To help get you out of this

Down and out lurch

Someone who will pray

Whether near or far

Or maybe drive right over

In a beat up old car

To listen and listen late into the night

To down and out feelings

And things that cause fright

Because that is how

The family of God works

With friends that will listen

When slump danger lurks

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up their mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles cross weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!
Open your heart and let the spirit blow through

You’ll find the strength somehow

To give it a try

And stop sitting around waiting

For your wet hair to dry

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

Where God is alive

And the pray…ers are praying

And the singers are singing

And the carers are caring

The praisers are praising

The nurturers are nurturing

The servers are serving

And all are deserving

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be as famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't
Because, sometimes they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

You’ll ask where is God now

In this place with no sun

Down in this hole where there’s no place to run

And that big old hole

Is right there in your heart

Where you feel all alone

Unable to start

But something will spur you

To get off your butt

To thank God you’re alive

And get out of that rut

So on you will go
though the weather be foul.
On you will go
though your enemies prowl.
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike,
And I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And if you mess up

Sin boldly my friend

You will be forgiven and rejoice in the end

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Ripple Sato or Walker Brinkman

or Julia Radcliff or Russel Holland
You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

(The parts I added are in blue)