“Break the arms of those who are wicked and evil!” (Psalm 10:15).
Do your prayers sound like that? I’m guessing not. Mine don’t. I rarely pray for bad things to happen to bad people. If I didn’t know better, I would attribute these words to someone in organized crime rather than one of God’s faithful. Although, I guess we’d be talking about kneecaps, not arms, right?)
That’s not very loving, is it? Not at all compassionate. Hardly merciful. Yet, it’s the prayer of the faithful, the inspired word of God and honestly, the sentiment of many of us. Wouldn’t you like God to give people like Dr. Kermit Gosnell what they deserve for killing those newborns? Wouldn’t you like to see some members of our government with an arm in a sling after God had a little talk with them? Isn’t there at least one bully you’d like to have an appointment with the Almighty?
Maybe that’s why Jesus is controversial. He doesn’t teach our enemies a lesson. Instead, He talks with them and is comfortable spending time with them. That’s just not right! And then His body is broken for us (and His blood poured out), for the forgiveness of (my) sins.
That’s life changing. He was broken for me. Any prayer that reminds me of that is a good one.l
My wife Lisa has bee trained to lead medical mission trips for the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod Health Ministries. She’ll get her first chance to lead a trip to Kenya this July. Jacob, the synod’s manager of medical and health projects will be going out early to work out some details, so Lisa gets to orients her team of nurses, teachers, laypeople and me, the team chaplain.
Both of us have been on similar trips to Haiti, but this is a little different, taking us to a different continent on the other side of the world. Getting there involves an eight hour flight to Amsterdam and then a nine hour flight to Nairobi. With layovers, it’s going to take about a day and a half.
We’re looking forward to,the adventure. I’ll post periodic updates as we figure out what we’re doing and prepare for our trip.
Mom (Nancy Douthwaite) in a 1993 photo from our home in West Des Moines, IA
How many blog posts will be written about moms this weekend? Lots and lots, I’m sure. Well, I’m not going to be left out! Here’s my tribute to mom, someone I don’t think I’ve ever written about before.
My mom died a little over eight years ago, finally succumbing to a ten-year battle with cancer. Married to my dad for fourty-nine years, her faith, love and talents live on in the families of her children.
Mom was a nurse, graduating from Philadelphia General Hospital. She wore white, wore a cap (a unique double frill), and worked weekends. That’s when my dad learned how to cook. Thank goodness for Hamburger Helper. She talked me into volunteering at the hospital, getting ice water, giving up meal trays, feeding those who needed help, and occasionally moving a corpse to the morgue. I’ve always believed that those experiences helped me feel comfortable making hospital visits.
Mom was a musician. She was a talented pianist. In my mind I can still hear her playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and accompanying some family singalongs. That gene was passed along to all of us kids and grandchildren.
Mom was a writer. She took a creative writing class, and I am sure files of her manuscripts are still in the basement of our home in Ridley Park. She always had millions of notebooks and pens around the house, filled with lists, ideas, doodles and bible passages. She just loved the feel of the ages of a brand new notebook.
Mom was an artist. She did some oils but I especially remember some of her charcoal sketches. A few swipes across a piece of paper and suddenly she had drawn a picture of you. Amazing.
Mom loved chocolate.
Mom was a Christian. She and my dad were absolutely faithful in worship, she taught Sunday School and Bible classes, loved to read books about spiritual topics and was amazingly active in sharing her faith, especially with the family. I vividly remember our family devotions after supper each night. We three kids rotated through the duties of lighting the candle, reading the scripture and then the My Devotions article. Our family life was intricately interwoven with the life of the church all throughout my growing up years. Do you think God was able to use her to raise up a few pastors (my brother and I) and an organist and teacher (my sister) for His church? Yep.
Mom probably had no idea how many lives she touched simply by being who she was, following Christ and loving her husband and children. Not perfect, just redeemed. Not famous, but definitely remembered.
You might miss the celebration of Christ’s ascension into heaven because it always falls on a Thursday, tucked in-between the sixth and seventh Sundays of Easter. Though we confess it in the creed, alongside Jesus’ descent into hell, resurrection, seat at God’s right hand and return, it doesn’t command as much attention as the big holidays. Of course, that means it hasn’t been commercialized and we don’t have to send Ascension Day cards and shop for Ascension gifts.
Why is Jesus ascension important?
It means he really has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2-3).
It reminds us that he is interceding for us (Romans 8:34).
It means that he is ruler of all. He ascended to the throne where he has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).
I came into today's conference sessions with high hopes. I was both disappointed and pleasantly surprised.
The first unexpected blessing was the coffee machine in the lounge on my floor (The sixth floor is the Club floor at this Sheraton.) At the push of a button, it ground the beans and made espresso! I could have cappuccino or a latte, too. Very nice.
Then I had a great conversation at breakfast with Jawed and Juliana Dass. They are Pakistani Christians doing mission work in Naples, FL among Muslims. Her ministry is called Sisters of Faith. She had some great stories of how God has opened doors for her witness. I'd like for her come up and speak for us sometime.
Unfortunately, The second half of Dr. Gibbs' presentation had a lot of good information, but just didn't hold my interest as well as last night.
After lunch, I went to a couple of break out sessions. The first, entitled “Pastors as Communicators,” just wasn't communicated very effectively. It as more of a rant about ill-prepared speakers. The second, a panel discussion about witnessing across cultural and generational boundaries was great, filled with personal stories of connecting with all kinds of different people in different situations. One pastor spoke about a ministry among gypsies; another helped his aging congregation connect with the community for the first time in years. And Juliana told of how she was able to relate to an atheist son of a Muslim family.
In the evening drove over to the campus of Concordia University at Ann Arbor for supper and worship. They have a beautiful chapel there and a fantastic organist accompanied the service.
Heading home tomorrow morning — after some espresso.
After an uneven travel day, the conference began at 7 with a devotion and then the first part of Dr. Jeff Gibbs' presentation (professor, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis). While his presentation was promoted as being about witnessing, he took the topic in a different direction than expected. He chose to talk about the what of our witness, not the how, specifically different ways of presenting the gospel beyond the usual “Jesus died for your sins.” The Bible is filled with images of resurrection, reconciliation, growth and unity, all of which are good gospel themes. I think ourngoal will be developing a broader vocabulary for our witness, which should be interesting.
Of course, most of my conversations with my brothers have been about Adam's call and upcoming ordination and graduation, and Olivia's high school graduation. It's cool to have lots of good family news to share.
The most exciting part of the day was hearing a woman rant and rave about her disappointing first class accommodations on the flight from Jacksonville to Charlotte. Expecting to be treated as a diva, she got nothing but disdainful looks from the other business travelers, which really set her off. She continued to yell and shout on her way to her connection, prompting one man to say, “Maybe I'll be that important someday.”
It’s time for the annual English District Professional Church Workers Conference, held each May for the pastors, a few deaconesses and other assorted professionals in our district. After years of having the conference near the Detroit airport, we are moving out to the Sheraton Hotel in Ann Arbor.
The conferences always consists of devotions, keynote speakers, some workshops and an assortment of reports. For the first time that I can remember, we will receive CEUs for attending some of the sessions presented by Dr. Jeff Gibbs, a professor from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
I always have mixed feelings as this attendance-required (though some never attend) conference approaches. On the one hand, it is a nice break from the routine and a chance to see my colleagues from across the country who are part of the English District. On the other hand, these conferences are traditionally, in a word, dull. And that is saying it in the kindest way. The fact that attendance has to be enforced says something about the whole process.
I appreciate the hard work that the planners and presenters put into the conference. I think part of the problem is that we only get all the pastors of our district together once a year, so the organizers feel the need to squeeze in all the reports, greetings, and Q&A sessions possible. Most of this information could be communicated throughout the year, but I suppose it’s harder for a captive audience to ignore a live presentation.
I leave tomorrow morning and I will write about each day’s experiences here. It will help me stay on task and perhaps will cause me to reflect more on what is presented each day.
“O Lord, why do you stand so far away?” (Psalm 10:1).
There’s a great question. Why would God keep His distance? Why does He seem so far away? Why does God seem like He’s not around? More importantly, why does God seem like He’s not around when we need Him?
Jesus said He would always be with us (Matthew 28:20). He promised to never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). God dwelt in the midst of His people in a tabernacle (Exodus 25:8), a temple (1 King 16:13) and His own Son (John 1:14). We hang onto these promises for dear life, yet we have this nagging sensation that God has abandoned us because of something we’ve done or haven’t done.
Maybe it’s because we expected it to be easy. We figured that if God were around we could coast. That He would open up a hole for us to run through, provide the momentum, and run interference for us. So each challenge, problem or dilemma makes us wonder, “Hey, God, what’s up? Why are you so far away?”
Perhaps we need to hear again what Jesus said in the gospel this morning: “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33.) It’s going to be hard, difficult, infuriating, impossible. But that doesn’t mean for a minute that God isn’t around. In some ways, it’s proof that He is. Jesus said He would bring conflict into families, persecution to the church, hatred toward His disciples and a cross for those who follow. Since the new life He gives us runs counter to the wide path that leads to destruction, we can expect to feel friction, experience conflict and get to know rejection when we follow Him. So He must be close by.
Actually, if you keep reading Psalm 10, you’ll notice that it’s the wicked who claims that God’s not around. We know better.
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