Category: Grace

Posted in Grace, Ministry

An awkward interruption

Posted on by William Douthwaite

One of the great things about being a pastor is that you never lack for new experiences. I’ll close out the first month of January with one I had today that was partly humorous, partly embarrassing, and a little sad.

It began as a traditional visit to a member in a local nursing home who was recovering from some surgery and receiving an assortment of therapies. After some introductory conversation about this and that, it was time for the sacrament. Bread and wine were put in place, scripture read, and it was time for the words of institution.

As I am almost exactly halfway through the words, a medical assistant steps into the room and interrupts with a rather personal question for the patient. We didn’t quite hear it the first time, so she repeated it using very descriptive words, got her answer, and disappeared.

While all this is happening, I’m thinking, “Is this happening? Doesn’t she what we’re doing? Do I need start over? How embarrassing is this?” I simply picked up where I left off and Christ’s words transformed a not-so-holy situation into holy ground just like they always do. Afterwards I was reminded that Christ didn’t mind being in a world or among people who didn’t recognize him, respect him, or understand what he was all about. And he still doesn’t mind. His grace still works in humorous, embarrassing, sad, painful, and sinful situations. That’s probably why some call it “amazing.”

Posted in Grace

Connection

Posted on by William Douthwaite

For a while now (I think it’s been a really long while), our church has used the slogan “Connecting people with God’s grace.” We hope our ministry will help people connect with the grace of God and we also hope that God’s grace will help people connect with one another. I got a chance to see the latter happen twice today.

One of our newest worshipers, having just moved into her Palm Coast, found herself with a surplus of household items and the need to some help in getting her new home set up. At the same time, we’ve been trying to help a family who was starting from scratch and needed just about everything for their household. And we have some folks out of work looking for any kind of side jobs they can find. Hardly a coincidence, definitely a grace moment as God brought the right people together at the right time.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

30 seconds

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Up at 4:45 am, I showered, dressed, ate and was out the door by 5:20. A fine mist in the dark morning air necessitated a swipe of the wiper blades every few minutes. There were no other cars to wait for, follow or pass until I merged onto the interstate, headed towards Jacksonville. Even then, the cars and trucks were few and far between.

The hospital had scheduled her surgery for 7:30, and her prep was to begin at 7, so I was right on schedule to have a little time with her and her family before they took her from the room. There were virtually no radio stations working well. Finally I found an AM sports station that lasted for about half and hour, highlighting the rest of the football game I couldn’t stay awake for the night before. The miles passed quickly, and before I knew it, the exit for the hospital approached.

When I got out of the car in the parking lot, I immediately felt how much colder it was than back home. I had called ahead to find out when the front door would be open. “5 am.” “Thanks, that’s plenty early!” There were many cars in the parking lot and more people than I expected when I walked in about 6:20.

Stepping out onto the fourth floor of Mayo hospital, I had to double check the signs to find room 422. They saw me coming from down the hall, and knew exactly who I was looking for, because she was looking for me. They were taking her for prep at 6:30 and she grabbed my hand and said, “Quick, pray with me, I’m so glad someone came.” When we opened our eyes, they were waiting to transport her. She asked one man, “Are you awake?” He replied, “I just rolled out of bed.” Lots of laughter.

And then she was gone, gone to hopefully have a brain tumor removed. All that way for about 30 seconds with her and the Lord. What a privilege and an honor.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Visionless?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

David Hayward recently wrote a few blog posts about being visionless. The way I read this, rather than being a church that is driven towards goals by mission and vision statements, a church could instead just be the people of God who freely shared forgiveness, compassion, mercy and the gospel.

One of the reasons his posts struck in my mind is because I’ve never been good at “vision casting.” I don’t feel like I’ve ever been able to express a compelling vision around which the church can focus its ministry. However, I am very good at identifying when the church is being the church, when it is reaching both in and out, ministering to people in an amazing variety of ways.

For me, the most amazing part of this is that I had little to do with it. Recently, I made myself a list of the outreach ministries our congregation was involved in, ranging from stocking the shelves of a local food pantry to leading after school Bible clubs to distributing quilts and prayer shawls. I had very little to do with starting these ministries (which number somewhere abound a dozen), and I’m not a part of their ongoing work. This all comes from the hearts and souls of an amazing collection of people.

The only thing I can remember communicating was that if someone had an idea for ministry, they had to make it happen. If it wasn’t heretical or illegal, they pretty much had my blessing and support. Slowly but surely, they took me up on the offer. And maybe that’s what my vision was all along.

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry, Rant

It’s harder to come back than I thought

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Ed Stetzer has written an interesting article for Q ‘How Christian Consumers Ruin Pastors and Cheat the Mission of God’. I have often struggled with those folks who simply come to church for a product or service, not unlike taking your car to an auto mechanic or hiring a contractor to work on your home. It could be a baptism, wedding, funeral,counseling or some other type of inspirational entertainment. We pastors step in it all the time, willingly providing what we think people are looking for, fearful of what will happen if we do not continually attract and retain an influx of new people at church. How effective and healthy can ministry be if that’s the model?

In retrospect, it was so good to get away to Haiti for nine days. Even though it was an intense, tiring week, the only expectation was that I be a pastor. “Do justice…love kindness…walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Help people, show compassion, pray and preach the word. No meetings, few demands, and countless opportunities to proclaim the gospel in words and actions.

You get spoiled real quick. It’s freeing to not be hounded by time and schedules. So when you get back to the real world, it’s hard — real hard — to take seriously some of the things you used to spend time and energy on. Like meetings that accomplish little if anything. Complaints and concerns about our facilities. Shopping and travel plans for Christmas. A whole bunch of people who live in tents in Haiti, including many of our friends, are now in the path of a hurricane in the Caribbean. Suddenly, it’s real hard to focus on that other stuff. And maybe that’s a good thing.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Haiti (finale)

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This will be my last segment on Haiti, just some random reflections to tie everything together.

One question asked of me: “What did you do?” Among other things I fixed Gail’s glasses, played the part of an IV pole, learned how to take someone’s blood pressure, colored with some of the kids, and learned how to count to five and say, “Go to the tent!” in Haitian Creole. Most of the local people laughed at my south Philly-Creole accent.

We worshiped at a Lutheran Church on Sunday. Enock translated Pastor Benoit’s excellent sermon for us, and we thoroughly enjoyed the music, which included a grooving rendition of “Thy Strong Word.”

The Cholera outbreak cut out trip short by a day. News of the disease reached us early in the week, but it was in a region to the south of us. We were already taking precautions with the water, so we weren’t too concerned. Then, as the numbers of fatalities grew, we became concerned that there might be a quarantine or have trouble traveling, so we switched out flight to a day earlier. Other than another three-hour kidney-jarring, teeth rattling ride in the back of an SUV, travel back went smoothly.

Another question asked of me was, “Did you have a good trip?” I always answer, “No. It was rough.” It was rough to see the conditions the people live in and rough to not be able to do a whole lot about it. How many stomach aches were simply hunger? How many other ailments were due to dehydration? It’s hard to say. If the clinic continues to serve the people in Poto, then perhaps we did some good. If the experience will help us motivate others for mercy work like this, then perhaps it was a good trip.

We are already planning on going back with more from our church through the efforts of Mission: Haiti and the Florida-Georgia district of the LCMS. We keep in touch with many of our friends through Facebook and email. As I write this, a hurricane is just a few days from Haiti. A storm would be especially horrible for the thousands still living in tents and under tarps. Needless to say, we are doing a lot of praying for them!

Posted in Grace, Ministry

A disturbing story for the comfortable

Posted on by William Douthwaite
I am working on the gospel, Luke 16:19-31, for the sermon this week. It’s a tough passage that generates enough guilt on its own that you really don’t need to preach too much law. A rich man who enjoys life in this world ends up in a place of torment. A poor man, Lazarus, who lives a miserable life in this world ends up in a place of comfort. It’s a story that makes you realize how often you look right past the poor in pursuit of your own extravagant life-style. Extravagant at least in comparison to most of the world.

We were talking about this in Bible class last week, too, studying The Hole in our Gospel, by Rich Stearns of World Vision. We hear about the poor, empty food pantry shelves, and the needs all around us, but we really don’t see the poor. We know statistics, but we don’t really don’t know the people they speak of. For example, a public school teacher in the class shared that 56% of the children in our school district get free or reduced lunches. I didn’t know that, even though I know lots of money is being spent for that program. Those children are for most part invisible to the average eye, except to those who spend every weekday with them.

The bottom line in Jesus’ parable is to listen to “Moses and the prophets,” the Word of God. What the Word reveals is a God who steps into our world with mercy, justice and love. When we see what God is doing, we see who He came to save. The targets of His mercy suddenly have names, faces and lives. In this way He still opens eyes and invites us to join Him in this mission that supplies both physical and spiritual life in this world. Isn’t it amazing how His Word and Sacraments still open the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and heal the legs of the paralyzed!

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

I was just thinking about you

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Last night I had a free half-hour before my small group met, so I got to make a few phone calls to see how some folks were doing. During the first call, the person said, “I was just thinking about you. In fact, I was going to call you tomorrow.” I’ve found that to be the case too many times to be a coincidence. Somehow God brings to mind just the right person at the right time.

Anyway, they were going to call me with the idea to have our congregation write our own Advent devotional booklet this fall. Not necessarily a new idea, but a new idea for us. It’s a project I’ve sometimes dreamt about, but never implemented. You don’t know how nice it is to hear someone say, “I’d like to organize it.” All I need to do is give her a list of twenty-seven Bible verses, organized around an Advent theme, and she’ll do the rest: enlist writers, gather devotions, and get the collection to our office for duplication and distribution. Pretty cool.

Of course, that means I have to start thinking about Advent, which begins November 28 this year. I’ve found that advance planning sometimes makes you feel like a time of year is already upon you when it really isn’t. Kind of like a time warp. I have to remind myself it’s only September. Whew. But not too early to plan for the busy month of December.

So if you’re a Shepherd of the Coast reader, you read it here first. You’ll have a chance to share a little of your Advent and Christmas thoughts to help others zero in on that time of the church year. Last year we introduced Advent Conspiracy, and challenged ourselves to worship fully, spend less, give more and love fully, all gifts from God. I think we’ll take that to the next level in some way so that Christmas can continue to change the world.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Walk-in business has been pretty good lately

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Lately I’ve had a lot of walk-in business. Just like the hair salon where someone walks in without an appointment for a haircut, I’ve had a number of people walk in (literally, or by email, or by phone) in search of what I’ll call “spiritual services.” A number of people I’ve never met have called to ask, “Can you perform our wedding?” Or “Can my child(ren) come to confirmation class?” Or, “Can I do some community service hours at your church?”

My first response is, “Who are you?” Well, maybe not in those exact words. But I am always curious how people decided to call me. Remember, these are folks who have had no affiliation with our church and who have never met me. I’ve come to recognize that the church has become for many a place where you go to get certain spiritual services, just as you might go to Jiffy Lube for an oil change or to a chiropractor for an adjustment. There will probably be no lasting connection, but for the time being, you’re the right man for the job.

Sometimes there is a connection, albeit remote. “My friend’s grandnephew had a friend who knew someone whose wedding you performed on the beach.” Another interesting connection: “My daughter went to your church’s preschool years ago.” Or sometimes I get the call by accident. They thought I was someone else or our church was the one on the other side of the interstate.

So what do you do? How should I respond? Chances are once the service has been performed, I will never see them again. Am I just a technician who’s been certified in spiritual ceremonies? Over the years I’ve gotten a little more accommodating. I’ve come to accept each request as an an opportunity. The Holy Spirit must be at work in there somewhere. I may be part of a much bigger project to connect someone to God’s grace. I might meet someone else in the process who needs some good news (of which I have plenty to share). So I usually give them the benefit of the doubt. I’ll marry you. But you’re going to learn something about Jesus in the process. I’ll help you teach your kids. But we’re going to talk a lot about Jesus.

Lots of people came to Jesus for his healing or demon-casting-out services. But they came face-to-face with the Son of God. You never know.