It is hard to believe that a year has gone by since my church’s 10th anniversary concert last year. This year’s production will focus on reaching out to people beyond the walls of our church building and the confines of our community.
I have been a part-time adjunct faculty member for the Musical Theater department at the local high school for the performing arts for the past 3 years. I work with the most talented students and staff in the district. Two years ago, I was shocked to find out that one of the students that I worked with was homeless. This news forced me to face the reality that this issue affects all of us.
It is easy to say words of faith but it is harder to live by them and to follow the greatest commandment that Jesus gave us “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
This year our church is joining forces with a local non profit that supports homeless youth because we stand united as one community to eradicate this problem that plagues our city. As the body of Christ, we have to make a difference in the lives of our children and community because no one else will. This life isn’t meant to be routine, and in the blink of an eye everything can change. But the Son of God reveals to us who we are and whose we are because He makes everything new.
It is through our faith in God, God’s word and God’s grace that we know that God so loved us all that God redefined what love is in the life, death and resurrection of His only Son. Love is sacrifice, messy and painful. But in the end love wins.
So as another year passes, I pray that we will all understand that the way in which we live our lives could be the only bible or church that the people around us will ever experience. So I pray that we will all live a life full of the joy and the hope that comes only from an authentic relationship with the Savior who gives us the gifts of His grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. Through Him all things are possible.
Tags: Christian, Christmas Makes Everything New, ELCA, Faith, God, grace, Homeless Youth, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Love wins, lutheran, Matthew 22: 36-40, Savior, Son of God
Advent 1
Lord of all, Your grace covers all things and You make all things new. As another year slips away, show us how to stop obsessing over things that we can’t take with us to heaven because all we leave behind is the impact that we had on the lives of others.
In the absence of so many things, we can be God’s light and love on this earth so give us the strength to push through the fear so that we can touch and change lives as Your Son did with us. The birth of the Son of God, His life, death and resurrection tells us the truth that fear cannot keep us away from the presence of God. Nothing can.
Lord, just “give us enough light to see the next step” (Vicky Beeching) for “many are the plans in a person’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21). Center us now to step back into the story of “how God so loved the world that He sent His only Son” (John 3:16) to be the eternal living truth for all generations to know that “hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can.” (Martin Luther King) and Love won over death and sin and will continue to do so forever and ever. Amen.
Tags: Advent, Christian, Church, ELCA, Jesus Christ, John 3:16, lutheran, Martin Luther King Jr, Prayer, Proverbs 19:21, Son of God, Vicky Beeching
Cross at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mounds, Minnesota
Lord of all, fill our minds with Your truth
and our hearts with Your love so that
we may be bonded together by faith. Today will never come again so “tune our hearts to sing Your grace” (ELW 807), and open the doors that shut us out from experiencing the presence of God.
Help us to understand how to live by loving ourselves so that we can live in the truth that You gave us. Don’t let our challenges push us away from Your hope because “we have to be Your light” (Matthew 5:16). For there is only one foundation to build our life upon that will not falter and that is a relationship with the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the One who turns tragedy into triumph.
But we need to be His body, His hands and His feet. Our eyes can see with His compassion, our feet can walk in His righteousness and our hands can bless with His mercy. And in case we forget the truth of our salvation, let us remember that the way in which we live our lives may be the only gospel or church that the people around us will ever experience.
Tags: Christian, Church, ELCA, Jesus Christ, lutheran, Matthew 5:16, Prayer, Son of God
My friend’s car decal
“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations,” (Psalm 90:1) show us how to break the habit of the typical because it’s easy for us to hide from the things that we can make a difference in. It’s hard to trust what we don’t understand. It’s easy to run from obstacles than to face them. And it’s challenging to stand up for our faith in a world that doesn’t believe.
But “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” (Phillipians 4:13) because “our mission isn’t to compete, but to complete” (Tony Gaskin) the purpose that God has destined for us. So let us not do what we think we should do, but let us do what we have to do in order to truly love our neighbor as ourselves. “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18) for “if we continue in God’s word, we are truly God’s disciples; and we will know the truth, and the truth will make us free.” (John 8: 31-32)
Tags: 1 John 3:18, bible, Christian, Church, ELCA, Jesus Christ, John 8: 31-32, lutheran, Phillipians 4:13, Prayer, Psalm 90:1, Son of God, Tony Gaskin
Painting inside St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mounds, Minnesota
Almighty God, “You are the Lord and You will never change.” (Malachi 3:6) In this shell of a body, is a dream that can unite all people. The dream of a better world where everyone will know the love of God, so don’t let anything take away that dream.
And when the gravity of our situations work against us and holds us down, let hope stare us in the face and keep us in God’s light. For You are not afraid of our storms, and our faith rests not upon who we are but in who Christ is, in His life, and in what He continues to do for all of us so “that we can know truth, and that truth will set us free.” (John 8:32)
“In any given moment we have two options; to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.” (Abraham Maslow) So “may the light of God illumine the heart of our soul. May the flame of Christ kindle us to love. May the fire of the Holy Spirit free us to live this day, tonight and forever.” (Celtic Benediction)
Tags: Abraham Maslow, Celtic Benediction, Church, ELCA, Jesus Christ, John 8:32, lutheran, Malachi 3:6, Prayer, Son of God
St. James Lutheran Church in Crystal Minnesota
Lord, every good gift comes from You. “Direct our footsteps according to Your word, and let no sin rule over us.” (Psalm 119: 133) Push us out into the world of the living and push life back into us. Let our faith be bigger than our fears, so that we can represent You and glorify You in all that we do, because we only get this one life to make a difference.
Because of You, we are strong enough to carry each other through the long twisted turns of life. So take our faith to another level. A level of doing, and not just empty words, because what we allow is what will continue but “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17) to do all that God has planned for us.
“In the blink of an eye everything can change…Life is short” (Zig Ziglar) so let us truly live it. Because “when we leave this earth, we can take with us nothing that we have received (and) only (carry) what we have given: (so let us continue to give) a heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.” (St. Francis of Assisi)
Tags: 2 Corinthians 3:17, bible, Christian, ELCA, God, Jesus Christ, lutheran, Prayer, Psalm 119: 133, St. Francis of Assisi, Zig Ziglar
Hear us now O Great Redeemer, and “clothe us in your compassion, kindness, humility and patience.” (Collossians 3:12), “Turn away our eyes from our own vanity and revive us in your ways” (Psalm 119:37).
We’re just ordinary people, flawed and prone to sin, but You see us as no one else does. You understand our potential. So as these battles rage on in all of us, we pray that You would reign in us and remind us that “nothing can separate us from God’s love” (Romans 8:38), that “You have been with us since the beginning” (John 1:1) and that You will always be, Emmanuel, God with us.
When words fail “hope will not be silent” (Harvey Milk). For it is “By faith (that) we began, by hope (that) we continue, and by revelation (in which) we shall obtain the whole (truth of God)” (Martin Luther). For “if there is anything in us, it is not our own; it is a gift of God…that it is entirely a debt (that we) owe to love…and must serve others with it, not ourselves” (Martin Luther).
Tags: Christ, Christian, Collossians 3:12, ELCA, Harvey Milk, Jesus, John 1:1, lutheran, Martin Luther, Prayer, Psalm 119:37, Redeemer, Romans 8:38
We come into this place to experience You, the great I AM…the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Speak Your authority into our lives and introduce Yourself to us in a new way. Communicate to us beyond what we can see and hear, so that we can fulfill the promises that we make to You and to each other.
Don’t let our own insecurities stop us from living this life. You sacrificed Yourself on the cross for us. You won the battle, and because of the blood of Jesus all people have access to a relationship with a God who will never stop loving them.
Your story, Your truth, lets us know that “there are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” (C.S. Lewis) So, give us the courage to “let go of what we think should happen and just live in what is happening:” (Unknown) God’s love. God’s love is always happening and we should always be sharing the same love that is given to us. We may not reach everyone but don’t let it be because we did not try.
Tags: C.S. Lewis, Christ, Christian, Church, ELCA, God of Abraham, God's love, Great I Am, Issaac and Jacob, Jesus, lutheran, Prayer, the story
Bridge in Minnesota
Loving God, we come into Your presence seeking a revelation of something greater than ourselves. Give us the wisdom to read, hear and receive Your Word so that we can see our part in Your story: the story of a people that cannot make it on their own and the story of the indestructible love of God.
And “when we feel like we are not good enough to be loved by God, we should remember that God’s love is greater than our doubts. So silence the sounds of condemnation so that we can hear the voice of God, the voice of Grace and the voice of truth. (1 John 3 – The Voice Bible )
Open our eyes to the blessings that we didn’t see before. Help us to recognize the lessons that need to be learned. Illuminate the light of Christ, in all of us, so that we can see that we are all sinners in need of the same forgiveness, grace and love given to all of us at the foot of the cross and the empty tomb.
Tags: 1 John 3, bible, Christ, Christian, Church, ELCA, forgiveness, grace, Jesus, lutheran, Prayer, Revelation, The Voice Bible, voice of truth
New Song’s first time marching in Las Vegas Gay Pride 2014
Almighty One, thank You for being the truth, thank You for being the Way, and thank You for being the Life. Make our love for You and each other be as real as Your love is for all of us. Lift our eyes away from ourselves and reveal to us the world that You want us to see: a world that needs hope, compassion and peace.
We cannot love God, whom we do not see, and hate those that we do see. So let us forgive and let go of what once was and move forward and enter into Your promise that lives in the here and now, so that we can stand up for love…stand up for the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the broken hearted. Help us to stand up for our brothers and sisters, in this very room, whom the world has forgotten. Help us to stand up for You, so that our light will shine and glorify our Father in heaven.
Shine in our lives Lord “so that we can see that to follow You is less about avoiding sin and more about courageously and actively doing God’s will” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). For it is through Christ, that we can do what the world will not do for us: Love God, love ourselves and love our neighbor.
Tags: Christ, Christian, Church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ELCA, gay christian, Jesus, lutheran, Lutherans Concerned, open and affirming, Prayer, reconciled in christ, Social Justice, Stand up
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