I planted these gardenias over a year ago. Finally, the first bloom.
Category: Life
Posted with BlogsyCelebrating Administrative Professional Day!
So when in the world did this observance begin? It began as National Secretaries Day in 1952, but evolved into Administrative Professionals Day by 2000. A great day to remember the great front office people who hold it all together.
We celebrated today, with a really cool vase of almost-ready-to-bloom tulips, a card and lunch out for Marcy (not her real name), our office administrator. Truth be told, she’s worth a monthly celebration. As gatekeeper for phone calls, mail, email and walk-ins, purchaser of just about everything we need, facilities coordinator and editor and publisher of a number of publications each week, she makes the church office happen. When she’s not there, I might as well stay home. I never get anything done, because of the constant interruptions. She is definitely a special blessing for me and the church!
Earth Day
I got to be a part of the first Earth Day in 1970. (Sheesh, I’m old!) I don’t remember much about it. My best recollection is getting out of class to go and clean up the lake by our junior high school. Old tires, furniture, and junk dumped there. In 1970 we really didn’t think much about recycling, gas mileage or global warming. What a different world it was.
Now I recycle more than I throw away, I drive a hybrid car, I have higher efficiency appliances in my house and I pick up litter in my neighborhood. I am constantly aware of the environment, climate, ecosystem and conservation. It’s a part of my everyday life.
From the very beginning, God charged his creation, male and female, to consume, enjoy and also care for the creation. It’s a part of everyday life for God’s people. In other words, every day is Earth Day for Christians.
What Family Promise did for our church
Family Promise is a fairly new resource in our area that provides temporary shelter for families experiencing homelessness. It involves local churches who provide a place to stay, meals and other support, enabling families to stay together as they take steps towards obtaining employment, transportation and a home. Churches provide a week’s worth of hospitality four times a year.
Our church was literally dragged into this program by a family who insisted we be a part of our county’s effort to establish a chapter of Family Promise. While that family is no longer connected with our congregation, we found ourselves unable to find any reason why we shouldn’t or couldn’t do this. We had the space, the volunteers, the resources and the heart to minister to these families, so we became a host church.
A year later, after five different weeks of hosting, I find that for us, it’s not so much what we did for Family Promise, but what Family Promise did for us.
First, Family Promise exposed us to the name and faces of families experiencing homeless. Most of the time, when we talk about the homeless, we know they are out there, but we have no idea who they are. We may have seen someone in that situation, but we never met them. Now, we’ve broken bread with them, heard their stories, played with their children, worshiped with them and prayed for them. And we still do.
Family Promise blew up our capacity for compassion. We thought we were a compassionate, caring and loving congregation. Our guests took us to the next level, sharing their lives with us, caring about our families and gratefully accepting whatever we could offer them. In a way they took us under their wing and helped us rediscover the importance of family, of hope and commitment.
Family Promise brought people in our church together. Some of our volunteers had never met each other before. Our guests enabled new friendships to be forged.
Family Promise made us work hard and do things we didn’t want to do. We had to recruit volunteers, move furniture, buy food, prepare meals, clean, do laundry, spend the night, get up early and make our church home a safe home for the families. We actually had to do something rather than simply make a donation. We had to live the reality these families faced every day.
Family Promise showed us a different side of ourselves. You don’t get to know someone very well when you are sitting in worship on a Sunday morning. We got to see each other talking with the parents, playing with the kids, taking out the trash, and drinking coffee first thing in the morning. No better no worse, just real people doing real stuff in the name of a real God.
Finally, Family Promise opened our eyes to what’s possible when you drag yourself away from the TV, a comfy bed and the Internet for a while. You don’t need a ton of resources to make a difference. Just a little love.
Some questions raised by Gosnell’s trial
Even though pro-life voices claim that the murder trial of abortion clinic doctor Kermit B. Gosnell hasn’t gotten the media attention it deserves, one does not have to search far to find descriptions of the conditions, practices and deaths that occurred at the Women’s Medical Society in Philadelphia. One such report can be found here. I would have to imagine that readers on both sides of the abortion issue are horrified at the grand jury’s report.
As one who believes in the sanctity of all human life and opposes legalized abortion, the story raises other questions in my mind:
- Why are more people not horrified at all abortions?
- We’ve been told for years that abortion is part of health care. How many more clinics like this exist, providing neither health nor care?
- Why are we surprised that such a place existed? When we start down a path that legalizes death, do we really expect to end up in a good place? We were told long ago that we reap what we sow.
I know that not all will share my point of view and I know there is much more to the discussion than this one story. But I do hope that it will make us all think, talk and pray a little more about life issues. As one who has held many babies, including some of my own, at the baptismal font, my prayer today is once more, “Lord, have mercy.”
at Shepherd of the Coast Lutheran Church
Boston in our prayers
My heart goes out to the families of those who died in the bomb explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon today, as well as the many who were injured. I learned of it just minutes after it happened today when I quickly glanced at Facebook on my phone after a hospital visit today. In no time at all, there were prayers being offered (here’s one by our church body), rants against terrorists and the government, and even a Wikipedia page replete with details and references.
Instant news coverage means our lives are filled information, fear, anger and questions in an instant. It can be overwhelming. Thankfully, it also means that our minds are renewed with the perspective God’s Word gives us as the faithful have responded with proclamations of Christ’s victory over death, His mercy and healing extended through rescue workers, race officials, nearby churches and bystanders, and reminders to call upon Him in the day of trouble, for He promises to deliver us, and we will glorify Him (Psalm 50:15).
Our lives can end in an instant. Not just because someone has a gun, a bomb, mental illness or an ax to grind. It’s “because sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
But…”the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). That is where we will find hope.
From a long time runner who didn’t quite qualify for Boston in 1982: “Lord, have mercy.”
The wrong church
For a change, I answered the phone last Thursday while I was still at church finishing up my sermon for Sunday. It turned out to be a most unusual phone call.
I always answer, “Shepherd of the Coast Lutheran Church; this is Pastor Douthwaite.”
“Hello, pastor. This is K**** (name changed to protect the innocent). I visited your church on Mothers’ Day and I was hoping you could tell me more about the ship’s bell in your entryway.
Sometimes we have unusual items in our entryway, or narthex, especially when we are promoting Vacation Bible School. One year we actually had a ship’s wheel on display. I thought really hard about what might be out there, but finally said, “We don’t have a ship’s bell here.”
“Sure you do. You must be mistaken, pastor.” Really. You’d think I’d notice something like that, especially since I’ve been through the narthex almost every day for the last six years.
I decided to investigate a little more. “You attended Shepherd of the Coast?”
“Yes ma’am.” Respectful, but just a little off the mark.
“On Pine Lakes Parkway, on the west side of town?”
A moment of silence. “I think I may have called the wrong church.”
“Maybe.” Click. Conversation over.
Attend the church of your choice this weekend. Take note of any nautical items you see. Glance at the church sign. Pin the location on your maps app. And have a great week!
Eighteen months
The presidential campaigns have begun already, eighteen months before the next election on November 6, 2012. Can we handle eighteeen months of speeches, commercials, debates and news reports?
When candidates traveled by rail and made speeches off the back of trains, it didn’t take eighteen months. So why, with so many ways to effectively communicate, do we have to start so early? To raise money? I suppose. It takes a lot of money to run for office. To win in the primaries? The Iowa caucuses are next February, only nine months away. Fail there and your chances are slim. To get your message out? Perhaps. Most of the messages we will get will be trash the other candidates. That shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish. Everyone’s got something in their closet. At least til it comes out. To create jobs? It takes a lot of people to run a campaign. Here’s a chance to demonstrate you bring unemployment down!
We should spend eighteen months praying for our country and our leaders, both present and future. Up against so much we can’t control, from the economy to terrorism, unemployment to foreclosures, problems in the classroom to health problems in our families, we certainly could use some divine intervention. Actually, this might take longer than eighteen months.
How much risk should we take?
How much risk should we take as Christians? Do we throw caution to the wind and trust God to protect us? Or
do we play it safe, knowing that we are like sheep among wolves in this world?It depends on your definition of “risk.” Is it risky to talk to someone about your faith? It could be. You don’t know how they’ll react. You could offend and lose a friend. Or God could use you to reach someone. You never know.
do we play it safe, knowing that we are like sheep among wolves in this world?It depends on your definition of “risk.” Is it risky to talk to someone about your faith? It could be. You don’t know how they’ll react. You could offend and lose a friend. Or God could use you to reach someone. You never know.
Is it risky to go and do mission work in another country, like Haiti? It could be. Some of those who need Jesus the most live in some very unstable and dangerous places. Anything could happen.
Is it risky to play it safe and never let your faith leave the confines of your home or heart? Absolutely. You risk not experiencing how God can use you to make a difference. You risk not seeing someone experience his love in very tangible ways. Hopefully God will send someone else. He will, won’t he? How ironic. You can play it safe and still be taking a risk!
I’ll bet most Christians (at least in this country) don’t even think of faith as something risky. Depending on your beliefs or church, it could be boring or entertaining, tedious or fun, predictable or inspiring, irrelevant or demanding. But it doesn’t seem dangerous or risky.
What are you missing if you never take a chance?
Waite for it... 