October 18, 2010

10-18-10 Sunday, 6:20 am Springfield, 52 degrees, high, thin clouds.

With a wedding on Saturday and overnight company, my journaling has been scant. It is good to awaken early on this my Sabbath from work and open this journal with thoughts and reflections as I prepare to open God’s word. Sunday morning seemed to go well, and I think my message was well-directed and will prepare us for the Healthy Church Initiative this coming weekend. My goal was to create a sense of urgency about what God is doing and will do through this congregation in this time and space. It was also “pastor appreciation” Sunday, and at all four services our lay leader Margaret did a great job of commending us pastors and calling the congregation up to lay hands on us and pray.

Today our daughter Bethany is in town, and will depart tonight for Los Angeles. We had fun playing Yahtzee around the dinner table last night. She is doing so very well in her senior year at Azusa Pacific, and considering what God is leading her to undertake next year. We will enjoy spending time with her today.

Jeremiah 31:27 – 32:44
31:33-34 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone from the least to the greatest will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

This is a powerful promise of God’s new covenant. I am thankful that I am one who benefits from this promise, and I have experienced God’s instructions “deep within” and written on my heart. Everyone around me, however does not yet “know the Lord”, and there is still much teaching of neighbors and family to do before the end.
Today I will finish reading Gordon MacKenzie’s Orbiting the Giant Hairball for our peer mentoring group in Columbia tomorrow. Bishop Schnase has been recommending this book for a couple of years. It was written 14 years ago by a corporate executive from Hallmark, and subtitled “A corporate fool’s guide to surviving with grace”. I see many applications for the church.

This is the day that You have made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. May my steps be ordered by your spirit, and my energy be renewed as the eagle’s on this day of rest and re-creation. Thank you Lord for your hand directing my life, and your instructions deep inside.”

10-16-10 Saturday, 7:20 pm Springfield, 79 degrees, clear.

Audrey and I just arrived home from the wedding of Danica Pape and Brad Wolf in Washington, MO. I will work on sermon for a while until my friend Bill Mauck arrives to spend the night. It was a beautiful wedding on a beautiful fall day. My scripture reading with introduction went very well, plus I was invited to pray the blessing over the meal. We are now tired and fulfilled in our travels and our relationships.