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Showing posts from 2013

Jesus isn't cute. He's dangerous.

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There is one word that I cringe at every time I hear it applied to a grown man, especially to an elderly man.   Maybe you have heard this word, or you yourself have used it.   I know it has been used by different people in regards to my own grandfathers and grandfathers-in-law.   This man who has been faithful to his wife for 50+ years, who worked his fingers to the bone to provide for the upbringing of his children, who brought them to the font of baptism, who drove them to catechism classes, who showed them the value of an honest day’s labor, who forced them into the cellar and held the doors shut as the violent winds of a tornado passed by outside.    What word is used to describe him?   Good?   Brave?   Strong?   Virtuous?   No. The word is: “ CUTE .”   I hate that word, or at least when it is misapplied to grown men.   The word “cute” means basically the same thing as “pretty”.   And if there is one thing that elderly men are not, and I do not think any of them wo

The Church Is Awesome

As a community we have seen some awesome things lately.   I am using that word loosely.   A tornado is awesome, not because it is good or desired, but because when you see it and the damage that it leaves in its wake, it makes your jaw hit the floor.   Perhaps the better word is “fearsome”.                 Besides the destruction and devastation, however, there have been many awesome things.   There was the quick response of individuals to help their neighbors.   Many of you drove to New Minden to help pull people out of the rubble and to pick up the pieces of their lives.   You went to the various farms and outlying homes that had been hit and worked into the dark helping to make the clean-up that much more doable.                 And then you stayed.   You did not come for just one day, but many came back the next day, and the next, sometimes finding new people to help, new ways to lend a hand.   Some donated food and water.   Some donated money.   Some prayed.      

Gone Through Hell

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(To the members of St John’s and Trinity, the citizens of New Minden and Hoyleton, to all those affected by the storms of life and seek from the Lord great and abundant mercy; grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.)                 How do you comfort someone who is almost literally going through hell?   That is the pastoral task that was before Jesus Himself as He hung on the cross between two thieves.   “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” begs the one.                What do you say to someone like that?   How do you offer them comfort, hope, assurance that everything is going to be ok?   What could even Jesus possibly have to offer this man now?             What could I possibly say to comfort you?   You who have lost friends and neighbors?   You who have lost homes, buildings, pets, a livelihood?   You who are at times so overwhelmed by the size and the scope of what needs to be done to move forward that