FROM PASTOR DAVE… I Don’T Know About You but Every Once in a While I Get This Overwhelming Feeling That I Have to Start Getting Into Shape Again
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
501 NW 16th Street, Grand Rapids, Minnesota 55744 (218) 326-8508 www.saintand.org November 2016 FROM PASTOR DAVE… I don’t know about you but every once in a while I get this overwhelming feeling that I have to start getting into shape again. I know that I might be overly optimistic by even thinking that it’s still possible, but hey – you’ve got to give me some credit! After all “it’s the thought that counts.” And yet, I realize that I have to do more than think about getting into shape, I’ve got to do something too. I’ve got to start getting into shape physically. I’ve been pondering this for some time. My daughter lovingly reminds me that I haven’t lost the measly 4 pounds I wanted to lose about a year ago. About a month ago, I had a sort of wakeup call when my brother Peter had a heart attack and then triple bypass surgery. He’s the closest living thing to me physically and genetically. Both male. Both products of our mom and dad. Yes, I received that wake up call, but will I get up and answer the call? I’m recommitting to eating smaller portions, and not checking out what may be in the church kitchen when I get the munchies. Whenever possible, I’m going home for lunch, and spending time exercising on my NordicTrack ski machine. (I prefer “exercising” to “working out.” The latter sounds too much like work.) It takes about a couple of hours in the middle of my day, to get home, change, exercise, shower, grab a sandwich and get back to the church. Usually, it’s time well spent. As it energizes me for the afternoon and evening. I encourage you to get into shape physically. Why? Because God wants you to care for your body like it’s His and not yours – which is the case anyway. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” You have been entrusted with that body so that you can be of useful service to the Lord, as you love and serve God by loving and serving people. We need to be mindful of how we are caring for these bodies so that God can use us to make a difference in the world and in the lives of others. That means exercise, eating right, getting a full night’s rest. I’m no Mr. Universe, and I’m not a health nut, but it is time for me to get into shape physically. I also need to get into shape spiritually. I find the Marks of Discipleship a good scale by which to judge my spiritual fitness. I hope that you may have drawn a similar conclusion. And yet, even though I am being more intentional about reading from the Bible and praying everyday, worshipping every week to be honest, I have been sensing a dissonance within my spirit. Maybe it’s more discontentedness. Or even discord. Whatever it is, it is not shalom. My searching has led me to re-read three books, more reading than I usually do. I am reading a book by Eugene Peterson called “Under the Unpredictable Plant – Rediscovering Vocational Holiness.” (Peterson is the author of the Bible paraphrase The Message, a favorite of mine.) It has caused me to become quite introspective in the last few weeks, as I again ponder God’s calling me to the ministry of being pastor. The other book in my study helping me to get into shape spiritually and to address the dissonance of spirit, is “Put On Your Own Oxygen Mask First – Rediscovering Ministry” by Bill Easum. It is helping me, in the image of Revelation chapter 2, to rediscover my “first love” – God. The third book I’m rereading as part of my spiritual fitness program is called “A Passionate Life,” by Mike Breen and Walt Kallestad. In it, they introduce eight easy to recall shapes to help us remember principles and practices to help the reader live a passionate life as a follower of Jesus. That brings me back to the metaphor I’m using for this bit of writing: it’s time to get into shape. So far, I’ve read about two of the shapes. The semi-circle and the triangle. Think of a pendulum. As it swings back and forth, the shape it makes is a semi-circle. The two poles represent rest on one side and work on the other; or abiding on one side and fruitfulness on the other. One cannot exist without the other. God intends for us to live both. A proper balance is critical to spiritual health. In the Book of the prophet Micah, we read “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (6:8) The triangle – three sides, three angels - reminds us that we need to balance three types of relationships in our lives for spiritual health. Out - “act/do justly”. In - “love mercy”. Up - “Walk humbly with your God.” Out - reaching the unchurched. In - building the church community. Up - developing intimacy with God. When you think about your own life, are you living in balance? Are you spiritually fit? It’s high time we get into shape – physically and spiritually. Join me for the journey. Peace, Pastor Dave 2 499TH ANNIVERSARY of the REFORMATION Monday, October 31 is the 499th anniversary of the day Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses he wanted the church and it’s leaders to discuss and debate. It’s the event that we credit with having launched the Reformation and birthed what we call the Lutheran Church. So much has happened in the ensuing 5 centuries. Some of it has been ugly. The animosity and downright division between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Suspicions between Lutherans and Roman Catholics. We, with arrogance, accused each other of not living out or understanding what it means to be the church of Jesus Christ. And yet some of it has been positive. In 1999, the Lutherans and Roman Catholics signed Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. “It is a document created, and agreed to, by the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation as a result of extensive ecumenical dialog. It states that the churches now share "a common understanding of our justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ.” To the parties involved, this essentially resolves the five hundred year old conflict over the nature of justification which was at the root of the Protestant Reformation. (from Wikipedia) Just this past summer, another document was agreed upon: “Declaration on the Way," a unique ecumenical document that marks a path toward greater unity between Catholics and Lutherans. At the heart of the document are 32 "Statements of Agreement" that state where Lutherans and Catholics do not have church-dividing differences on topics about church, ministry and the Eucharist. More tentatively, the document also explores differences that remain. (from ELCA News Service) I want to call your attention to another sign of the warming relationship between Lutherans and Roman Catholics. Pope Francis will be in Lund, Sweden, at the headquarters of Lutheran World Federation, to participate in a joint prayer service with LWF President Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan and its general secretary, the Rev. Dr. Martin Junge. This historic event of Lutherans and Roman Catholics will usher in the 500th year (2017) since the Reformation began. Instead of focusing on our differences, we are celebrating God’s continuing reformation of the Church and our partnership with one another in it. This event will be live-streamed, so YOU can watch. Go to https://www.lutheranworld.org/lund2016/livestream VOTING – HOW TO DECIDE Every time I turn on the radio or the TV lately, I’ve been bombarded by campaign commercials. Unfortunately, most of their ads are about the “evils” of the candidate’s opponent rather than why you or I should vote for that candidate. It’s so overwhelmingly negative and mean-spirited! As a nation, we are so polarized, with both sides entrenched. I know I’m stating the obvious. Less obvious perhaps is who we, as Christians, should vote for. Or how we should vote. I start with the presupposition that as Christians, our primary and ultimate allegiance is to Jesus. In the New Testament, one of the first statements of faith was “Jesus is Lord.” The unspoken second part was “…and Caesar is not.” Jesus is Lord…and the Democrats or Republicans are not. Jesus is Lord and the United States is not. Jesus is Lord and not any particular set of political positions. It is Jesus, not any of these other things that drives me, and directs me, and shapes me, and motivates me, and will help me decide how to vote. We need do a gut level check on ourselves as concerns this presupposition that Jesus is Lord, and nothing or no one else is. Is that true of you? Are you a follower of Jesus first and foremost, and only after that a citizen of a particular country and an adherent of certain political positions? If my presupposition is correct, what follows is that I will vote for a person whose positions are more likely to bring about a world that begins to resemble the world that Jesus wants, and policies that align with the character of Jesus. Jesus was compassionate. Jesus always sided with the poor, and disenfranchised.