Wrapping up a creative week.

Greetings on this good Thursday.  I’m particularly glad to be with you in the Pastor’s Workshop as we “put it all together” today!

Our message this week is, “Begin with Basics: Get Creative”.  Our Scriptures are Genesis 1:1-3 and Isaiah 43:1,18-21.  Our key thought for this message: Every crisis holds a challenge to get creative.

As you know on Thursday we take our notes, reflections and musings from the week.  We surround them with prayer.  We seek to discern a message emerging from the Scripture to bring forward on Sunday.

So as you look back on your work this week and “put it all to prayer” what message is coming forward for you?

Here are my “Sunday talking points”:

Every crisis holds a challenge to get creative. For us as people of faith that’s Good News.  Getting creative is inherent in who we are and what God’s Kingdom is about.

We have a Creative God.  We see that from Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning, God created…”.  God said, “Let there be …” and it was!

God’s creative work didn’t stop after “six days” (however you choose to interpret that phrase).  In Genesis 12 God pronounced a Covenant and created a people.  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the beginning of a long lineage of those who understand their lives to be linked to a living, loving, creating God.

In a time of crisis, a crisis called the Exile, when the people thought God had forgotten and forsaken them, Isaiah reminded the people, God made you, formed you and called you his own (Isaiah 43:1). God will make a way for you through this crisis, a way in the wilderness (43:19), because God is preparing a people to live for God’s praise (43:21).

God continues to create.  God continues to call into covenant.  God’s creative work centers in the covenant we have with God in Jesus Christ.  As we receive and believe in him God’s love goes to work in our lives. The Apostle Paul says in II Corinthians 5:17.  “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, the old is passing away and behold the new is coming.”

As God creates us, God forms us in God’s image.  Part of what that means is that God gives us a “capacity to create”.  All of us possess this blessing. We see it exhibited most evidently in children, in their playing, singing, drawing, dancing, building, pretending … imagination and creativity gloriously on display.

Even though we’re all given this gift of creativity.  As we grow somehow it seems to go away.  It gets suppressed. 

I believe there are “creativity crushers”.  The word “Can’t” is one of the biggest.  There is an “antidote to Can’t” in the Scriptures.  In Matthew 19:26 Jesus says, “All things are possible with God”.

“Can’t” is a “creativity crusher”.  There is also a “creativity encourager”.  A tool that encourages creativity is a “right question”.

A right question awakens curiosity, invites imagination, stirs passion, and calls us to pursue possibilities.  Samples of right questions begin with: I wonder…, What if…, How could we…, In what ways can we…”

As we decide to Get Creative for God’s Kingdom we can use these prompts to ask some “right” Kingdom questions.

·       I wonder, what would Jesus do?

·       What if, we are the hands and feet of Jesus in this time and place?

·       How could we, join Jesus in whatever work he is doing here and now?

·       In what ways can we, bless others and bring out the best in and for them?

We have a God who can (for nothing is impossible with God), and so another “right” Kingdom question is “How can we…”

In the face of crises present in our world it is important for us as a church and as believer to ask those right Kingdom questions and “Get Creative”.

As we pursue this path of creativity we hear the words of Isaiah as an encouragement.  God is preparing a people to live for God’s praise.  Our creative God is creating people who are willing to get creative for God’s Kingdom.

This is a quick outline of Sunday’s message.  Of course there will be illustrations and expansions of ideas which “fill out” the message.

These are my thoughts. What are yours?  What word has God given you from these Scriptures?  This is how the Spirit is speaking to your heart.  Your message is important to think about and write down!

Now it’s time to let your message percolate for a couple of days.  Nothing like this “settling” time to help with clarity.

I look forward to being with you on Saturday in prayer and then joining on Sunday I worship.

See you then in the Pastor’s Workshop!

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank you for the blessing of this day. Thank you for the gift of Your Word and the message that comes from Your Spirit.  In these days let us know that Your creativity is present, not only in the writing of this message but also in the daily living of our witness.  Strengthen and expand our faith that we might live more fully into the blessing a being a people prepared for Your praise.  This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God's Creative Love.

Welcome to Wednesday.  We’re half way through our week and half way through our work in the Pastor’s Workshop!

As we “Begin with Basics” this week we’re going to “Get Creative”.  Our lead Scripture, Genesis 1:1-2, tells us we have a God who has created.  Our supplemental text, Isaiah 43:1,18-21, reminds us our God is still creating.  As part of God’s Creation we are given the capacity to create.  As participants in God’s Kingdom we are called to “Get Creative”.

On Wednesday we look at the context of the text.  We usually explore the world into which the Biblical word was written or spoken. Today we’re going to do something a bit different.  We going to survey the Scriptural world into which the Biblical word was spoken.

We did some of this yesterday. We noted how the setting for Genesis 1:1-2 is “before the Beginning”.  The Biblical writer spoke of this primal condition as a “nothingness”. “Tohu-vavohu” is the phrase in Hebrew.  It means “formless, void, total emptiness, primal chaos”.  It is into “Tohu-vavohu” God says, “Let there be…” Let there be Light and Dark, Day and Night, Order and Goodness.  And it was so.  And that was just the “First Day”!

God created.  And after the Beginning, God did not stop.  Later in Genesis 12 God pronounced a Covenant and created a People.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the first in a lineage of those who understood their lives were to be lived in life giving relationship with a creative God.

In Isaiah 43 God continued to call people back into that relationship of life and love.  When the people of God found themselves in Exile in Babylon, God reminded them they were not forgotten or forsaken.  God continued to create “a way in the wilderness”, “streams in the desert”, and a “people prepared for God’s praise”.

In Jesus Christ, God’s creation continues.  Through Christ we live in a life shaping Covenant with God. The Apostle Paul describes it like this, “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.  The old has passed away and behold the new has come.”  (II Corinthians 5:17)

We have a God who has created and is creating.  We have a God who created us and in creating us has given us a capacity to create.  Genesis 1:27 lets us know that we are created in God’s image and after God’s likeness.  As children of God that capacity to create is inherent and abundant.

And the call from the Scriptures is always the same, use our capacity for creativity to the good of God’s Kingdom.  As with any gift of God we have the option on how we exercise creativity. As I Peter 4:11 declares, “When we speak … when we serve… in all things, glorify God…”

I know this has been a bit different that our usual Wednesday.  But I hope this overview has been helpful.  To place our creative gifts within the context of God’s Creative nature and to know that God’s Creative nature is bending towards God’s good Kingdom, is important truth. This Scriptural perspective guides and directs us as we seek to “Get Creative” to the glory of God!

In that blessing I hope you have a good and creative Wednesday.  I look forward to being with you tomorrow as we “sum it all up” in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer: Gracious God, thank You for the blessing of your Creative love.  Thank You that when there seems to be nothing, You are bringing something good into being.  Thank You that when we feel forgotten or forsaken You remind us You created us and are still making a way.  Thank You for how in Your love You are always making us new creations in Christ Jesus.  For that covenant blessing and for the ways we receive it in faith and live it in hope, we give You our thanks and praise this day in Jesus’ name.

Getting creative.

Good to be together on this Tuesday.  I’m glad we can continue to explore what it means to “Begin with Basics” in the Pastor’s Workshop.

As you know our texts for this week are Genesis 1:1-3 (we expanded just a bit from yesterday) and Isaiah 43:1,18-21.  Our focus is on Creation and creating.

On Tuesday we examine our texts more closely. We look for a logic that links the ideas and images we noted yesterday.  Is there a theme that runs through both of these Scriptures? Does that same “thread” run through our lives?

Genesis 1 begins in a “time and space before time and space”.  The phrase used by the Biblical writer is Tohu va-Vohu (formless, void).  I love Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase in “The Message”.  The universe was a “soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness.”  It was out of this nothingness God created … something, everything!  “Let there be …” were the words of the Lord.

Isaiah 43 begins with a similar thought.  There was a time before the “people of God” were the “people of God”.  There was a time before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  There was a time before God said, “You shall be my people and I shall be Your God”.  Then God proclaimed the covenant and brought into existence a people. God created them and formed them.  In this text God is reminding them of their beginning.  And in their remembrance bringing them a word of hope.  Their Creator is continuing to create.  In their time of exile In Babylon, God will make a “way in the wilderness”.

The background for both Scriptures is chaos and crisis.  In Genesis it is Tohu va-Vohu.  In Isaiah it is Exile.  And in both circumstances, God creates.  God creates in love.  God creates something, everything good.  God creates a people to live in covenant with Him and with one another. 

God’s “creating” is the theme for both Scriptures.  It is also the thread that runs through our lives.  The God who created in the Beginning, who created In the Exile, continues to create today.  We ask the question, as people who are creations of God, created in God’s image, what does it mean to possess and exercise that same capacity for creating in the midst of God’s continuing act of creation? The challenge is, “How can we cooperate with that continuing work of God?”  How do we participate in God’s emerging Good? As a people of God, created in the image of God, called into covenant by the love of Christ, how can we “get creative”?

I look forward to how our message will explore ways we can ask and answer that question creatively. Engaging in life creatively, in ways we cooperate with God’s emerging Kingdom, is an exciting blessing. 

In that gift of grace, I’ll let you get to work.  I invite you to consider, “how can I get creative with my creating Lord of love today?”

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank You for the blessing of this day.  Thank you for Your creating love which has been from the Beginning.  Thank you for how Your creating love brings good into being. Thank you for how I can participate in that blessing as I live this day in Your love.  In that gift of Your grace, guide me by Your Spirit that I might “get creative with You today”.  In the name of the One through whom all things came into being, even Jesus Christ our Lord.

God created.

Good morning on this fine Monday.  Welcome to the beginning of a new week in the Pastor’s Workshop.

This week we’re working in our new series, “Begin with Basics”.   The premise of the series is: “When we start right, things go better, and when things go better, we can finish well.” Last week we celebrated that as people of faith we have the best beginning point possible, “In the beginning, God…”  We explored how to integrate “beginning with God” into daily living through prayer, worship, and Holy Communion.

This week we advance one word in our Scripture: “In the beginning, God created…”  Our Scriptures are Genesis 1:1-2 and Isaiah 43:1, 18-21.  Our title is: “Begin with Basics: Get Creative”. 

This message will explore what it means for us to be created in the image of a God who is constantly creating.  How does this challenge us to exercise our own God-given creativity as we live faithfully in our world? How does “living creatively” call us to live more fully as people who “declare God’s praise”?

Today we’ll spend time reflecting on those questions in light of our chosen texts.

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God (the Spirit of God) swept over the face of the waters.”  Genesis 1:1-2

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20 The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” Isaiah 43:1, 18-21

As we begin our thinking together we immerse ourselves in the Scripture.  By now you are familiar with the process. We read and re-read, write and re-write, and finally paraphrase the texts in our own words.  As you engage in this spiritual exercise let it be a “creative experience”. Listen for words and phrases that catch your interest, capture your curiosity and fire your imagination.  Make sure you write down your thoughts.  When the Spirit sweeps across your mind you don’t want to let your inspirations escape.

Now it’s time to get to work. We enter the week trusting that the God who has created and is creating (in the words of the Creed of the United Church of Canada) is constantly creating in and through you.  In that faith I look forward to how God will call us to get creative for Christ’s Kingdom this week.

Prayer: Gracious God, thank You for the beginning of a new week.   Thank you that in the midst of this week You are at work.  You are “making a way in the wilderness”.  You are calling us to live as people of creative faith to Your praise.  Let your Spirit move and let your Word call us into new ways of living into Your Kingdom.  In Jesus’ name we pray.

Praying for our Sunday Worship

Grace and peace on this Saturday.  Good to be with you at the end of the week and the beginning of the month in the Pastor’s Workshop.

As we start this new month we are focused on beginnings.  The title of our new series is “Begin with Basics”.  Our focus Scripture is “In the beginning…”

As we noted in our study this week the great news of our Scripture is that “In the beginning … God!”  We affirmed this truth applied to the very Beginning of Creation and to every new beginning in our lives, “In the beginning … of every day, week, and month; in the beginning of our time with our family, friends, and even folks we have a hard time with; in the beginning of school, work or play … God!”

It is our privilege to practice this truth.  We can begin each day with prayer.  We can start each week with worship. We can enter each month with Holy Communion.  We can start the school year with “Blessing the Backpacks”.  In these and so many other ways we live into the truth, “In the beginning, God”.

Beginning with this faith brings this blessing into our lives, “When we start right things go better, and when things go better they finish well.”  “Starting” right is key.  Begin with God!

Saturday is a Sabbath day in the Workshop.  It is the day we pray and we rest.  We pray for our message and the blessing it will bring.  We rest in the trust that God will be at work by the Spirit, growing us in the grace the Scripture proclaimed.

As you pray today what will be your prayers for worship tomorrow?  As you think about beginning the week with God what will you lift to the Lord?  What is your hope for you and others in God’s love in Christ?

Here are a few of my prayers:

·       We start each day with prayer, each week with worship, and each month with Communion.

·       We practice this privilege of beginning with God knowing all that follows (in the remainder of the day, week and month) flows from our starting right.  Beginning with God is critical.

·       We always remember, our God of beginnings is a God of love.  As I John 4:8 proclaims, “God is love”. 

·       We say “I love you” early and often to our family, friends and even folks we have a hard time with.  Our God of love will use these words to work new beginnings in our relationships.

·       We serve in the spirit of “I love you” early and often.  Our God of love will use these works to work new beginnings in our relationships.

These are hopes of my heart that I’m bringing to the Lord’s heart.  What’s on your heart that you need to lift to the Lord?  In particular, what will you pray in relation to the new beginnings in your life?

Make sure you write down your prayers.  As you record your prayers, this becomes your prayer journal.  It’s a great way to track what is going on in your life of faith and how God is answering your prayer and growing you in faith and grace.

Enough for now. I’ll let you get to prayer and to rest.  And I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow in worship, the Master’s Workshop.

Prayer: Gracious God, thank You for the blessing of Genesis 1:1.  Thank You that You are in the very Beginning.  Thank You that all things begin with You and all things can be creations of Your love.  Thank You that in and through our faith we can affirm You are in all our beginnings. Thank You that when things start right with You, they go better, and when things go better with You, things can finish well with You.  For this blessing of Your grace in the beginning of all things, we praise You in the name of the One was in the beginning with You, even Jesus Christ our Lord.

Starting Right.

Greetings!  Good morning on this Thursday.  It’s a blessing for me to be with you as we work through the Scripture in the Pastor’s Workshop.

This week we’re starting a new series, “Begin with Basics”.  We’re beginning with a most “basic” verse and truth in the Bible, “In the Beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1).

As you know Thursday is a pivotal day in our process.  It’s the day we take all our notes, reflections and prayers and seek to discern a “message moving in their midst”.  In a way it reminds me of Genesis 1:2 where things are without form and God’s Spirit hovers over the face of the deep.  In the midst of this formlessness God moves and works.  Creation begins.  Our creative process relies upon that same moving of the Spirit working in our minds and hearts.

So as you look at your musings and meditations what message is emerging for you?

Here are “talking points” about Sunday’s message for me:

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Doomed from the start”.  Could the opposite also be true?  Can we be “Blessed from the beginning”?  If we start right, can things go better and if things go better can they finish well?

This message takes that question and makes it an exclamation!  Rather than “If”, it is more a matter of “When”.  When we start right, things go better and when things go better we can finish well.  The critical key is “starting right”.  We as people of faith have a great place to start, “In the beginning, God.”

Why do I believe “when we start right, things go better and when things go better we can finish well?”  I believe that truth because of the Bible.  The Bible is a story written by many authors, in many genres, in several languages, across many centuries.  In the midst of this diversity, there is a unifying story.  The Bible is the story of salvation.  As we read about the people they have their Ups and Downs (mostly related to when they have been faithful or forgetful of God), but things go better when they are with God and you know things are going to “finish well” because of where the story starts – “In the beginning, God.”

The Good News is that the Bible’s story is our story as believers.  Our lives also have their Ups and Downs.  But we know things go better and finish well when we start right, when we begin with God. 

This is true for all our beginnings.  And our lives are full of beginnings.  Each day, every week, turn the calendar page for this month, begin a new school year, as you think about it you can supply even more “beginnings” that happen for you.  How do you turn those beginnings into blessings? Practice “In the beginning, God.”

My heart is heavy that there are some who can’t affirm “In the beginning God”.  Atheists and agnostics each have their reasons.  But my heart is even heavier when we who can make that affirmation forget “In the beginning, God” and we forfeit the grace that truth brings into our daily living.

So let us practice that faith:  Begin each week with worship, each day with prayer, and each meal with saying grace.  Start our work, whether that be at home with family or at our workplace (virtual or office) with a dedication – “Lord, my best for Your best.  Let me be the blessing you would have me to be for others”.  Enter the School Year with a Blessing of the Backpacks and a prayer for our students, teachers, and families.

And while we’re starting right, take time to “sprinkle in” an “I love you!” in what you say and in how your serve.  Do this with Jesus, with your family and friends, even under your breath with those you have a hard time with.  Do this because “God is love”.  Do this because to practice love is to affirm God’s presence and bring a fresh beginning into any relationship.

Around the church we pray a lot! We start meetings, meals, and classes with prayer.  We begin with prayer so often, in fact, that sometimes it seems “customary”.  We don’t pray because it’s “customary”, we pray because it’s critical. We pray knowing that all that follows in the meeting, the meal or whatever gathering we’re part of, flows from beginning with God.  We do it because we know when we start right things go better and when things go better we will finish well.  We do it because, “In the beginning, of all things, God…”

These are my thoughts.  Of course on Sunday I’ll expand on them with some illustrations.  But this is the basic message.

What are your thoughts?  What is God’s message to you from Genesis 1:1?  Make sure you write your message down. It is a blessing God provides that will guide you.

I’m glad to have this time with you.  Now, I’ll let you get to work in your own spiritual workshop.  I know God’s Spirit will “hover over” and bless you with a “new creation” as you begin with God.

In that faith, I’ll see you again on Saturday in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank you for the gift of this day.  Thank you for the blessing of creative time with You.  Thank you for the moving of Your Spirit and the inspiration of Your Scripture.  Thank you for the Biblical story of salvation and how that story is our story as we affirm, “In the beginning of all our beginnings, God.”  As we start right today let us know that You go with us and whatever happens it will finish well because of Your love.  We give You our thanks for this blessing of fresh and new beginnings through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Back-to-School

Families - Save the date! We are going to celebrate Back-To-School safely this year with a little SVUMC Parking Lot Family Picnic and Blessing of the Backpacks! We miss you!

Please join us on August 16th!

At 6:00pm we will have a Prayer/Blessing service in the front parking lot for our students going back-to-school. Families will remain in their cars, receive a blessing and drive by the front steps to pick up a special backpack tag.

At 6:15pm, Club 26 and Youth will enjoy games (social distanced) and we will have food trucks in the back parking lot.

Everyone is welcome to stay and enjoy a bite to eat from the Food Trucks - please plan to social distance appropriately and bring your own chairs to enjoy eating with your family unit.

We look forward to seeing you and hope you will join us!

In the beginning, God...

Good morning!  Welcome to Wednesday in the Pastor’s Workshop.  It’s great to be with you today!

Our message for this week is: “Begin with Basics: Starting Right”.  Our Scripture texts are Genesis 1:1-2 and I John 4:7-9.  Our key thought is: “When you start right, things go better and when things go better, you finish well”.  The key is starting right.  And the Scriptural guidance to “starting right” is from Genesis 1:1, “In the Beginning, God…”

On Wednesday we look at the context of the text.  We want to find out about the world into which the Word was spoken. 

Scientifically we can’t go back to “Creation”.  We’ll leave that up to the physicists.

But existentially we can go back.  The Bible takes us there.  I love the paraphrase of Genesis 1:1-2 provided by “The Message”.  Eugene Peterson, author of “The Message”, in his opening describes the creation setting like this:  “Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness… a watery abyss.”  How graphic a picture of a time “Before the Beginning”, a time before God went to work!

For the Bible what separates us from the “nothingness, emptiness, blackness and the abyss” is God.  “In the Beginning, God…” What a blessing to know the presence of God stands between us and that “nothingness”.

Genesis 1:2 provides a Creation contrast for “In the Beginning, God…”  But there are contemporary contrasts as well.  There are those who say there is no God.  These are the atheists. They don’t believe in the presence of the Transcendent.  In doing so they cut themselves off from the power of the truly Transformative.  And then there are those who don’t know if there is a God or not.  They struggle with the notion of “knowing” and of faith.  They are the agnostics.  As I think of them I remember Pascal’s Wager.  Pascal was a famous French mathematician, philosopher and theologian from the seventeenth century.  His wager (stated in layman’s terms) went something like this:  If you don’t know whether there is a God or not, what do you have to lose in believing?  And what do you have to gain in believing?  In believing in God, even if there is not a God, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You end up living a life of love.  In not believing in God, if there is a God, you have everything to lose and nothing to gain. You miss out living in the saving grace of Jesus.  There’s a lot to think about in “the Wager”.

Fortunately, or maybe more accurately, “gracefully” for us, we do believe in God and affirm God is a God of love (I John 4:8).  That truth of Genesis 1:1 and I John 4:8 is a truth not only for the Beginning of Creation, but for all the beginnings of our lives. When we begin with that basic, we are starting right!

As you think on the contrasts of the Scriptures today I’d invite you to reflect on the question: “What would it be like if I was not able to affirm, “In the Beginning, God…” and “In all my beginnings, God…”?  What would that nothingness, emptiness, abyss be like?  And then give thanks this is not our faith and not God’s truth.

I am grateful to be with you in the beginning of this new series, the beginning of this day and the beginning of how God will work the love of Christ into our lives through “Begin with Basics: Starting Right”. 

In that blessing, I’ll let you get to work.  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop.

 Prayer:  Gracious God, thank you for the blessing of starting right and beginning each day with You.  Thank you for the way this faith connects us with Your Transcendent Presence and Transformative Power.  Help us to affirm that gift of grace in our lives every week, as we begin with worship.  Help us to claim that blessing every day, as we begin with prayer.  Lead us forward In Your ways of truth, so that we might live more fully and faithfully with You.  In Jesus’ name we pray.

Beginnings.

It’s good to be together on this Tuesday.  I’m grateful I can spend time with you in the Pastor’s Workshop.

As you know we’re beginning a brand new series, “Begin with Basics”.  It’s a timely series.  As we head into August, we’re gearing up for all before us.  There’s fall, a new school year, hopefully a further “reopening” of our church, community, and country.  Even in the midst of the pandemic, life moves ahead.

The series is based on the premise that “If you start right, things go better and if things go better, you can finish well”.  “Starting Right” is critical.

As we “Begin with Basics” we’ve decided to begin at the very beginning – of the Bible and all things. Genesis 1:1 states, “In the beginning, God…”  We’ve also chosen to clarify this opening affirmation with a truth from I John 4:8.  It’s not simply “God is…”.  More completely, “God is … love”.

On a typical Tuesday in the workshop we spend time analyzing the structure of a text.  We usually look for a logic of how a truth is presented.  We seek underlying themes that unite verses of a Scripture. But with our chosen texts being so brief this week, on the surface there doesn’t appear to be much to work with.

But if you “dive a little deeper” you see there are three “huge realities” we’re exploring.  We’re looking into “Beginnings”, “God” and “Love”.  We’re reflecting on the question, “How do these three realities relate to one other?”  When you put them together, what’s the “big picture”?  What does this “picture” mean to us today?

If you think about it, today and everyday are full of “beginnings”.  You got out of bed – that’s a beginning.  Maybe from there you have a prayer – that’s a beginning of today’s time with God.  Maybe you turn on the news – that’s a beginning of today’s time with the world. Maybe you get the kids up – that’s a beginning of serving your family.  Maybe you head out to a job– that’s a beginning of serving others.  You get the idea. Each day is full of beginnings.

And Genesis 1:1 makes this affirmation of faith, “In the beginning, God”.  In each beginning, God is there.   Taking that “Bible word” and making it “your word” (your affirmation about each of your beginnings) will change how you engage in those moments.  Not only that, but when you affirm that the God present in your beginnings  is a God of love this faith will shape how you “share life” in your interactions.

I John 4:7-9 builds on this whole theme.  As we read this Scripture we see the Apostle John calling us to “love one another” (vs. 7) because “love is from God”.  When we “love one another” we are living into the affirmation that in the beginning of every conversation and interaction, our God of love is in that “beginning”.

As you see, when you begin with these three basic ideas there are significant consequences.  When you begin with these basics you will “start right”.  And when you “start right” things will go better and you will finish well.

It’s a big and beautiful thought … “In the beginning, God” … “in all our beginnings, our God of love”.   Today I invite you to reflect on that truth.  Meditate on what that reality means for you.

As you do, make sure you take notes.  You’ll want to preserve your thoughts as leadings of God’s Spirit for you through this Scripture.

In that blessing, I’ll let you think, pray and write.  And I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank You for each new day and every new beginning .  Thank You for how You are God present in the very “Beginning” and in each beginning.  Thank You that You are present in love.  Thank you for the difference Your loving presence makes as I live into this truth of my faith today.  In the name of the One whom in his coming is the witness of God’s love for our world, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Begin with Basics

Good morning on this fine Monday! I’m glad to begin the week with you in the Scriptures and in the Pastor’s Workshop.

This week we’re beginning a new series.  It’s entitled “Begin with Basics”.  As we begin a new school year (whatever that may look like), as we head from summer and into fall (whatever it may hold), as we plan to reopen our church, community and country (whenever and however that will happen), this series believes there’s no better way to begin than with basics.  The premise is: “If we start right, things go better and when things go better, we can finish well”. It all begins with “starting right”.

And what better way to “start right” than with basics from the Bible!   And when we’re thinking about basics from the Bible what better place to begin than Genesis.  And what better chapter to start with than Genesis 1.  Genesis 1 will be the source of our inspiration over the next month. We’ll see what the Spirit “generates out of Genesis” as we explore these verses together!

This week we’ll begin with the very beginning.  Genesis 1:1 will be our focus scripture for Sunday.  Our emphasis will be on the first phrase, “In the Beginning, God …”   We’ll be clarifying that phrase with few words from I John 4:8, “God is love”.      Our full Scripture texts for Sunday will be Genesis 1:1-2 and         I John 4:7-9.

As always on Monday I invite you to immerse yourself in the Scripture. Read and re-read the texts.  Write and re-write the verses.  Use several translations.  Do your own paraphrase.  Even though these texts are short, they are powerful.  As you spend time with them they will stimulate some great spiritual mediation for you.

I’m excited about our August series.  As we work through “”Begin with Basics” from Genesis 1 we’ll explore: “Starting Right”, “Get Creative”, “Shine a Light”, “Connect with Care” and “Claim Goodness”.  I believe God’s Word will lead us forward into a life with the Lord that is so worth living!  As the premise goes, “When we start right, things go better and when things go better we can finish well”.    It all “Begins with Basics” --- “In the Beginning, God…”

So let’s set off together.  I’ll let you get to work.  There’s not much to read and write.  But there is a lot to think about!

In that blessing I look forward to joining with you tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank You for the gift of a new week.  Thank You for the blessing of a new series.  Thank You for inspirations from Your Word.  Thank You that when we begin with the basics of Your love for us in Jesus Christ, everything goes better and we can live life well.  In that gift of Your grace we give You our praise in the name of the Word who was in the beginning and through whom everything was made, even Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Preparing for Sunday

Grace and Peace!  We’ve made it through another week and worship is only a day away.  I’m glad to be with you in the Pastor’s Workshop.

As you know, Saturday is a Sabbath day in the workshop.  Sabbath is about rest.  Sabbath is about being in a different “rhythm” than our normal productive routine.  And Sabbath is about centering in God.  Sabbath is about prayer.  On Saturday we do both in the workshop, we pray over our work from the week and we rest to get ready for worship tomorrow.

So as you pray today, what will you be lifting up?  What will you be asking for?  What will you be thanking for?  What will you be “talking with God” about?  Particularly, in relation to our Scripture this week, Philippians 4:6-7 (“Don’t worry about anything.  But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving …), how will you be praying?

Here are a few of my prayers for our work this week and for our worship tomorrow:

-        I pray that even though we worry, it would not be a constant condition in our lives.

-        I pray we would take the Scripture’s path out of our stress and “walk” into God’s peace.

-        I pray we would practice “centering in Christ” as outlined by the Scripture (pray about your stress, get specific in supplication, give thanks for how God is present and ready to minister to you).

-        I pray we would know the blessings of “centering in Christ” – calmer nerves, collected thoughts,  and a more peaceful, powerful, positive and productive “place” from which to engage daily living.

Prayer provides us an opportunity to picture a “preferred future” as God would provide it in grace in Christ.  As you pray this Scripture what “preferred future” do you picture for yourself?

I don’t want to go on too long today.  It is a day of rest for you and for me!

At the same time I do want to thank you for spending the week together, for exploring the Scripture together, for thinking and writing together, and for praying for worship tomorrow together. 

I believe prayer is powerful – very powerful.  I believe in prayer we center ourselves in the midst of God’s grace in Christ.  I believe as we pray for tomorrow and for worship, God will be at work.  God will work in and through our work, not only answering our prayers, but working God’s will in ways that bless others and glorify God.

In that faith I’ll let you get to praying and I look forward to being with you tomorrow in the Master’s workshop!

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank You for the gift of Sabbath.  Thank You for rest.  Thank You for prayer.  Thank You for how you invite us to be with You in Christ and to live with You as we follow the truth of Your Word.  Thank You for how Your Word calls us from worry into a place of peace in You.  Strengthen us by Your Spirit to make that “journey of faith” each day as we come to You with our supplications and thanksgivings.  For this blessing and for all the gifts of your grace, we give You our thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Worry.

Greetings!  It’s good to be with you on this Thursday. I’m glad we can continue our work together in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Thursdays are a “highlight” in our week.  Today we review our notes, listen for God’s leadings, and draft a message to bring in worship.

This week in our series, “Prepare with Prayer”, we are exploring a very practical aspect of prayer.  How do we use prayer when we are “stressed out” to “center in” to God’s peace?   What does that mean?  What does that look like?

Our guiding text has been Philippians 4:6-7.  The Apostle says, “Don’t worry about anything.  In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God…”

So what might our message be for Sunday?  Here are my “talking points”.

Stress is a certainty in our lives.  It comes with the challenges and changes of life.

At one level, stress can be good.  It helps us to stay energized and engaged in whatever we’re doing.  Where we get into trouble is when we have too much stress for too long.  When we get “stressed out” that is detrimental for us and others.

So how do we know when we’re at a point of “too much stress for too long”?  We have an early warning indicator light on our personal dashboard of life.  Our warning light is “worry”.

“Worry” lets us know fear is creeping in as part of our reaction to stress. Worry alerts us to pay attention and to act upon our source of stress. 

When we don’t address our stress, fear doesn’t go away.  Instead fear grows and builds.  There is a path we walk if we don’t act.  The path progresses like this: worry, being anxious, living in anxiety, panic.

At times we all find ourselves on different points in this path.  We all have “walked it” to differing degrees.

As we walk this path we know it is “not good”.  It’s not good for our physical, mental, emotional or relation health.   It’s not good for others.

When we find ourselves “out there” (stressed out), how do we de-stress? 

Exercise, deep breathing, talking with others (friends or therapists) are all good ways.  But a particularly powerful way to lessen stress we have as a people of faith is Prayer!

In prayer we face into our fear with faith. We give our worry “wings”.  We turn our cares into prayers.

Prayer brings God into the picture (of our stress) as a partner. 

In prayer we experience God as a loving parent with whom we can share the specifics of our stress.  Sharing those specifics is called “supplication”.

Even as we share those specifics (engage in supplication) we do so, not as a recitation of all that is wrong, but with thanksgiving.  We couple each specific stressor with a corresponding “thank you” to God.

This process of praying with supplication and thanksgiving brings us into the “Peace of God”.  Even though this Peace “surpasses understanding” (verse 7), we experience it in lower blood pressure, calmed nerves, and collected thoughts. The very Lord who said “Be Still” to the sea is pronouncing that same blessing upon our soul.

Approaching daily life from that calm, collected center is powerful and positive.  As the Apostle says in verse 7 Christ keeps our “hearts” and “minds” in that peace.   In that center of God’s peace our emotions are steady and our decisions are healthier.

As we walk this path of prayer we will know the truth of this text:

“Don’t worry about anything.  But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

This is how the message is “shaping up” for me.  Of course on Sunday it will be expanded and enriched, but this is the basic plan.

What message is coming forward for you?  How is the Spirit speaking to your mind and heart out of this Scripture?  Make sure you take time to jot down a few of your own “talking points”.  They are ways God is guiding you through the Biblical word.

I’m glad to work with you today in crafting the message.  I look forward to Saturday when we “pray” over it and Sunday as we proclaim it. 

In anticipation of those future blessings, I’ll let you and God get to work today in your personal workshop!

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank you for the gift of today.  Thank you for your Biblical word which guides us into how we can live this day more fully and faithfully.  Thank you for the way you provide for us to “de-stress” and “center” in you through prayer.  Let this blessing not only be a message for Sunday but a practice for everyday.  This we pray in the the name of the One who is our Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Centered In

Welcome to Wednesday.  We’re half-way through the week in the Pastor’s Workshop!

As you know this week we’re looking into a very practical “blessing” of prayer.  How can we go from being “Stressed Out” to being “Centered In”?  Our Scripture, Philippians 4:6-7, holds the key. “Don’t worry about anything.  But In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.”

On Wednesday we look at the context of the text.  Often we explore the historical or textual setting of the Scripture.  Today I’ve chosen to stay “experiential”.  Let’s think briefly about the opposite of being in prayer. Let’s talk about being in panic.

Actually, that’s a bit over dramatic.  But I do want to think about the path that leads to panic.  Since the Apostle begins saying, “Don’t Worry…”, I want to look into worry.

Worry often starts with stress.  Stress is a normal, natural part of life.  Stress comes with the challenges and changes of daily living.  Particularly in these days of the pandemic, we know about stress!

Some stress in life is good.  It keeps us engaged and energized in whatever we’re doing.  The problem comes when we have too much stress for too long.  When that happens we go from being “Stressed” to becoming “Stressed Out”.

There is a pathway, a progression we “walk” when we go from being “Stressed” to becoming “Stressed Out”. The first step in the path is worry.  Worry is an indicator.  Worry lets me know, “Fear is becoming part of my reaction to my stress.”  If I don’t pay attention to this “worry indicator” and address my stress then fear grows.  As fear builds the progression goes from Worry to Being Anxious, Being Anxious to Anxiety, Anxiety to Panic.  Of course this progression happens over time, often a long time.  But I think we all, at one point or another, have walked this path. 

We know being on this path is not good for our health.  It’s not good for our physical health – sleepless nights and heart palpitations aren’t good!  It’s not good for our mental health. We make rash decisions.  It’s not good for our emotional health.  We lash out at others.  It’s not good for our relational health.  When we’re not at a “good place” we’re hard to live with.  Others often bear the consequences.  Being “Stressed Out” is not good in any way, shape, fashion or form!

So when the Apostle says, “Don’t worry…”, his counsel is don’t start down this path.  Recognize the early warning signs of worry and do something about them.  Pray!  Instead of reacting in fear, respond in faith. Instead of becoming “Stressed Out” follow a path of “Centering In”. 

What great and timely advice!  What this Scripture lets us know is that “Worry” has been a problem for a long time --- at least 2,000 years.  But God has been around longer!  What worked then, will work today! Pray!

What are your thoughts about stress and worry, anxiety and fear?  As we think about these “contrasts” to the Scripture today, how have these realities been part of your life?  How did they start and where did they lead?  How do they highlight your need for God’s “answer”, your need for Prayer?

Jot down your thoughts.  Record your reflections.  Your experience will lead you into your need for prayer, and through its practice, into the peace God gives.

In that blessing, I’ll let you get to work and see you tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop!

Prayer:  Gracious God, we know stress is part of life.  In the midst of our stress be at work by Your Spirit.  Help us pay attention to the warning of “worry”.  Let us give our worry “wings” and turn our cares into prayers.  Strengthen our faith in the midst of our fear that we may follow You in the path of peace You provide.  This we pray in the name of One who is our Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Centering in God in our Stress

Good morning!  It’s great to be together on Tuesday in the Pastor’s Workshop.

This week we’re looking at one of the most practical aspects of practicing prayer.  In a world that’s full of stress how can the Holy Spirit be of help?  Our Scripture for Sunday is Philippians 4:6-7. 

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The title of our message is, “Prepare with Prayer: Spiritual Stress”.

On Tuesday we look at the structure of the text.  Is there a logic that leads us as we read this Scripture?  How is a main idea “emerging” through the Biblical word?

Like so much of the Apostle Paul’s writing, this text is very compact.  He puts so much into so few words.  “Unpacking” this Scripture can be done “word by word”.

The first word is “worry”.  As we face into the challenges and changes of life, it is always stressful.  The question is how will we handle the stress?  A normal reaction is “fear”, fear that expresses itself in worry.

Worry is an indicator that we are on a path we don’t want to follow.  We go from having stress (which is a normal part of life) to being “stressed out” (which is when stress becomes worry becomes anxiety). 

In our reaction of fear we can choose a response of faith.  Faith is when give our worry “wings”.  Faith is when we turn our cares into prayers.

Paul says “Pray”.  Prayer brings God into the picture.  It is no longer us handling our stress by ourselves.  The Spirit is now with us. 

Supplication is when we make Prayer specific.  It is when we detail the changes, the challenges, our fears, our frustrations --- when we lay it all out in ways that our worries are turned into a way of coming closer to God.

As we get specific with supplication, we don’t do it as a recitation of worry and care, of complaining and fear.  We lift our prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.  We are thankful for who God is as a caring God.  We are thankful for how God has helped us in the past.  We are thankful for how God is with us in this present moment leading us forward.  We are thankful.

This thankfulness bring us more fully into God’s presence.  How do we know we are in God’s presence?  By the peace we begin to experience.  It is a peace that has be with us all along, just as God has been with us all along. We just weren’t focused into the peace through our faith.  Now, with prayer, we are!

It is in that place of peace that Christ Jesus “guards” our hearts and minds.  As we respond to the challenges and changes of life from a “place of peace” we respond more positively, productively, more under control – self-control and God’s control.

Through following the counsel of this Scripture we have gone from Stressing Out about Stress to Centering in God in our Stress. We have “Spiritualized Stress”.

 That’s the logic I see in this Scripture.  What do you see?  What is the main idea that you find “unfolding”?  How do you follow it through?

I invite you to make your notes as you do your work today and get ready for tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank You for Your presence with us always.  Thank You especially for how You are with us in our times of stress.  Thank You for Your invitation to pray, which invites us to claim Your presence and practice Your peace.  We praise You for these blessings today through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen

Spiritual Stress

Good morning on this Monday.  Glad we can start out the week together in the Pastor’s Workshop.

We’re coming in the last week of our current series, “Prepare with Prayer”.  We began with “Save the Day” based on “This is the day the Lord has made” (Psalm 118:24).  We talked about being ready to take on whatever the day holds.  We are “Battle Ready”, “strong in the Lord, in the strength of his might”, by “putting on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:10, 11, 18).  Our third week focused on the prayer our Lord taught us to pray, the Lord’s Prayer.  As we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven” we know God is ready to answer that prayer through us and our witness. (Luke 11:2). Last Sunday we were comforted with the great prayer of David, “The Shepherd’s Prayer”, Psalm 23.  We learned three important prayers: “There is a greater glory that restores my soul”; “In the shadow, I have a Shepherd”; “I have a home in the heart of God forever!” 

This week we finish with a very timely and practical blessing of prayer.  In these troubled, stress filled days, how can prayer help?  Our title this week is “Spiritual Stress”.  Our Scripture is Philippians 4:6-7. 

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

On Mondays we “saturate” ourselves in the Scripture.  We read and re-read, write and rewrite the text from several translations.  We want the words of the Scripture sink in deep.

It is helpful in this process to read several translations or modern paraphrases of the same Scripture.  The way different scholars translate the original Greek language helps stir our thinking.  Just look at how this text is translated/paraphrased below.

 Don’t worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of God which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus. – JB Philips translation

7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. – The Message paraphrase

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. The New Living Translation

After reading the Scripture several times in several translations, try your own paraphrase.  This exercise will focus your faith on the message the Spirit is speaking to you.

I’m glad we can be in this Scripture this week.  Its practical advice about turning worry into prayer is something we all need to hear.

In that blessing I look forward to exploring this blessing with you more fully this week in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank you for your invitation to pray.  In Your love You invite us to lift up whatever is on our heart to your holy, loving heart.  You call us to turn our cares into prayers. Strengthen us in this faith as we go through this week.  In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Preparing for Sunday

Grace and Peace on this Saturday!  Hope you’re having a good weekend.  I also hope you’re getting ready for a good worship tomorrow.  In the Pastor’s Workshop, good worship makes for good weekends.

Today in the Workshop is a day of prayer.  We’ve finished writing the message, but the work is not done.  The message needs time to “marinate” in grace.  Having a day to pray allows that to happen. Saturday is when we “prepare with prayer” for Sunday.

This week we have been blessed by being together in Psalm 23.  As we read and worked with its six verses we were led through “green pastures and still waters”.  We traveled trails in mountain meadows, valley shadows, and to a king’s table.  Taking time with this psalm, praying this poem-prayer, “restored our souls”.

So what are your prayers as we head into tomorrow?  What are you praying for yourself, for others, and for our world because you’ve spent time with the “Good Shepherd” this week?

Here are a few of my prayers:

I pray we memorize Psalm 23.  It is a Scripture you want to “store up in your heart”

I pray we know deep in our hearts we have a Good Shepherd who is with us every day.  The Lord is our Shepherd!

I pray in the “valley of the shadow” we are not overcome with fear, for the Lord is with us.

I pray we remember and use the 3 prayers the Psalm teaches:

·       There is a beauty bigger than me and a glory greater than my own that restores my soul!

·       In the Shadow, I have a Shepherd.

·       I have a home in the heart of God forever!

Psalm 23 is an inspirational Scripture.  What has it stirred in you?  What are your prayers?

I believe God’s Spirit inspires prayers in us, so we will reach out to God.  And I believe the God who inspires prayers is already at work answering them. 

In that faith I give thanks we can prepare with prayer today and we can worship in joy tomorrow.  In that blessing I’ll see you tomorrow in the Master’s Workshop!

Prayer:  Gracious God, You are our Good Shepherd!  Thank You for leading and guiding, providing and protecting, comforting and consoling us. Your strength and care, Your goodness and mercy are with us all the days of our lives.  Even as You shepherd us, let us become better shepherds with those You entrust to our care. Lord, we give You thanks for the blessing of this week and for the ways You restore our souls always.  In Jesus’ holy name we pray.  Amen 

Wrapping Up the Week

Greetings on this Thursday.  It’s good to be with you as we head towards the end of another week in the Workshop!

What a blessing it has been to be together in Psalm 23.  This poem-prayer has such spiritual depth and power. To open ourselves to its witness “restores our soul”.

As you know, Thursday is a “moment of truth” in the creation of a message.  It’s a day when we review all our notes and mediations, pray, and “put it all together” on paper (or in our case on screen.)

So, as you have listened and learned, mused and meditated, what message has the Spirit given you from Psalm 23?

Here are my “talking points” as I get ready for Sunday:

Psalm 23 is a most beloved Scripture. It has been the inspiration for many hymns, books, poems, paintings and other expressions of faith through the ages.

It finds its power in the pictures it paints of ‘green pastures’ and ‘still waters’ and in the trails it travels from mountain meadows to valley shadows to a king’s table.  Above all it endears itself to all believers in the faith it proclaims: “The Lord is my Shepherd”.

The Psalm is a poem and a prayer.  As a prayer it teaches us three prayers – three prayers we can pray as we travel the trails of our lives.

As the psalm begins it reminds me of one of the most beautiful moments of my life.  I was on a hike with my family in the Rockies.  We ascended to the top of a ridge where the view was “breath taking”.  In that moment, as I beheld that beauty, there came an awareness that we were being held by a “bigger beauty”.  This experience of majesty renewed and restored my soul.  Maybe you have had one of those “majesty moments”.  The psalm awakens us to how the Lord leads us into these times and invites us into this prayer of wonder and worship: “Lord, thank you for beauty bigger than myself and glory greater than my own that restores my soul.”

It’s important to treasure those majestic moments.  The trails of life can quickly change.  In this psalm the shift happens in three words.  We go from “green pastures and still waters” to the “valley of shadows”. 

Our Sunday message shares of one experience of my walking through that valley. You have had those experiences as well.  Those are the times in life when the bottom seemed to “drop out” of your life and you know, “I am in the valley of the shadow”. 

What’s important to know in that valley, what our faith reminds us of, “in the shadow we have a shepherd”.   That faith makes all the difference! 

There is an episode from King David’s life, the namesake of this Psalm, which highlights this difference of deliverance.  Knowing “the Good Shepherd is with us” offers strength to stand and sustaining support to keep going.  The prayer the Psalm teaches for this valley is succinct: “Lord, In the Shadow you are my Shepherd.”

Psalm 23 is one of 39 psalms that are called “Psalms of David”.  Some think that’s because David wrote them.  In his youth, as a shepherd, he was an accomplished minstrel.  Others think these psalms received this designation because they were commissioned by David when he was king.

Whatever view you hold, Psalm 23 reflects both the faith of a shepherd and a king.  In verses 1-4 we find a shepherd who knows he has a Good Shepherd.  In verses 5 and 6 we find a king who knows what it means to be hosted at a royal banquet.

I don’t have the experience of feasting at a “kings table”.  But I do know what it means to be hosted royally with utmost hospitality.  The finery of a holiday gathering with my family is a “meal fit for a king” for sure.

The truth is, you don’t need “finery” to feast lavishly.  Anytime, anywhere anyone opens up their home and heart and invites you to “pull up a chair” and make yourself to home, there a goodness and mercy that witnesses to the “goodness and mercy of God”. This “goodness and mercy” follows us in the days of our lives.  More than that, acts of gracious hospitality remind us of God’s great graciousness. The Lord opens his heart to be our home forever.  This leads to the third prayer of Psalm 23 – “Lord, your heart is my forever home!”

As we travel the trails of life we are invited to pray the Psalm and to pray the prayers the Psalm teaches us.  As we do that we will be blessed with this great gift of faith: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall the want.  The Lord is my Host, my soul shall be satisfied.”

These are talking points for this Sunday.  As always the points will be expanded upon providing fuller clarity.

That’s the message I received. What did you hear?  What will you write?  I was greatly blessed by Shea’s Children’s Message this week.  She rephrased the Psalm in her own words and then drew pictures that “preached” this great prayer.  You’ll want to see that! 

Again, it has been a blessing to be with you in this wonderful witness of God’s word this week.  I look forward to Saturday, when we can “pray together” and then Sunday, when we can join in worship.

In that anticipation, I’ll be with you again soon in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank you for Psalm 23.  Thank you for its inspiring witness that awakens us to Your truth, You are our Good Shepherd. Thank You for how this Psalm leads us on the trails of our lives in ways we know “You are with us”.  Help us to pray this Psalm and to pray the prayers the Psalm teaches in ways our souls will be restored each and every day.  In the name of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray.  Amen

The Blessing of Psalm 23

Welcome to Wednesday!  It’s a blessing to be with you in the Pastor’s Workshop.

As you know, we’re focused on Psalm 23.  This beautiful poetic prayer has been an inspiration for hymns, books, and paintings throughout the centuries.  This week it will be the inspiration for our message.

On Wednesday we look into the context of the text.  As we find out a bit more of the background of Biblical scripture we broaden our understanding of its meaning.

The Book of Psalms is commonly called the “Hymn Book” of the Bible.  Many of the psalms are songs sung by the faithful in ancient Judaism.  They reflect a highly developed corporate worship.  These hymns reflect a full range of human emotion, from highest joy to deepest sorrow. 

They also witness to a profound faith In God.  It was in that faith the worshippers could open themselves and offer to God whatever was happening in their lives.  It was in the faithfulness of God, the worshippers could then be strengthened in their faith as they were reminded of God’s deliverance and were assured of God’s salvation.

Psalm 23 is from a group of psalms called “A Psalm of David”. These start at Psalm 3 and go through Psalm 41.  Some hold to a traditional belief that David was the writer of these psalms. Scripturally David as a shepherd boy was pictured In I Samuel as quite a musician.  Others believe that David commissioned these hymns when he was king.  Still others hypothesize these psalms were dedicated to David as their source of inspiration.

Whatever view you hold, this Psalm reflects the faith of David both as shepherd boy and as conquering king.  The opening verse starts out, “The Lord is my Shepherd”. The next three verses (verses 2-4) use imagery developing the relationship of a shepherd to the sheep and of the Good Shepherd to us as his sheep.  In verse five the image shifts to a royal table.  We are seated at a kingly banquet with the Lord as our host.  In God’s hospitality there is an anointing with favor, an overflowing of “goodness and mercy”, and a graciousness that reminds us we have a home in the heart of God forever.

Some have speculated that the shift in the psalm may reflect a “second verse” in the song. Just as with our hymns, the guiding metaphors can change between verses.  Others theorize that for the psalmist to portray the fullness of faith they wanted to proclaim, they needed to picture God as Good Shepherd, who provided and protected, and as Royal Host, who welcomed and blessed.

Whatever your interpretation, this Psalm witnesses to the deep faithfulness of God to us which we need to sustain, strengthen and enrich our faith in God.  Praying this psalm on a regular basis, whether you’re in “green pastures”, in “the valley of the shadow” or at the “king’s table”, will minister a blessing we all need.

In that gift of grace, I invite you to read and recite the Psalm today.  Let it become a song of your heart now and always!

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank You for the blessing of Psalm 23.  Thank You for how it ministers Your faithfulness to us.  Thank You for how it reminds us that in the shadows we have a shepherd and in the bounty we are blessed by Your grace. Let Your faithfulness to us inspire our faith in You. This we ask in the name of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Walking with the Good Shepherd

Great to be together on a Tuesday!  I hope you’re ready for a blessed day. It’s good to start with you in the Pastor’s Workshop. 

This week we’re working with one of the most well-loved prayers and psalms of all time.  We’re “walking with the Good Shepherd” in Psalm 23. The title of our message is “Valley Trails”.

Yesterday we “immersed” ourselves in the psalm.  We read and re-read.  We listened closely not only to what the Psalm said, but also to what our hearts and minds had to say.  We jotted down our impressions and our meditations.

Today we take a more “objective” look at the text.  What is the structure?  How does it advance the main thought?

The first guiding metaphor is a shepherd with his sheep.  The original listeners would have had a deeper sense of that relationship than most of us do today.  Most of us don’t have first-hand experience of shepherds and sheep. What we can imagine is how the shepherd protects and provides for the sheep and how the sheep depend totally upon the shepherd. 

In the care and guidance of the shepherd, the psalmist invites us to travel the trails of life.   

There are beautiful and lovely paths, beside “green pastures” and “still waters”.  This “path” guides us into right things of God.  The images evoke a deep sense of God’s beauty. To follow this trail is to “restore our souls”.

The shepherd and sheep travel not only lovely trails. They also know what it means to walk through dark times, when “shadows” fall and when death seems near.  These are times when if the sheep were alone, they would be afraid.  And yet, as the psalm highlights, they are not afraid.  Panic doesn’t overcome them, because they know the shepherd is with them.  They are under the shepherd’s protection.  The shepherd’s “rod” and “staff”, “strength” and “sovereignty in the situation”, are their courage.

In verse 5 the guiding metaphor shifts from sheep with a shepherd to guests at a king’s banquet. There is a wide range of speculation about why this change was made. One theory posits that to capture the fullness of the relationship God shares with the faithful this transition was necessary. 

In this new metaphor the guests are seated at a royal banquet table.  Even the presence of enemies cannot dampen the outpouring of favor and the overflow of goodness. The joy of the king’s feast is supreme.

And the Psalmist concludes with this thought: this favor, goodness, and joy in the presence of the Lord are not temporary or passing.   The richness of the relationship the faithful share with God is eternal.  The abundance of grace we know today witnesses to an abiding fullness of grace forever. 

The Psalm is so rich in its imagery that to meditate on its message is lengthy.  Yet, you don’t want to rush through this poem-prayer.  This psalm is like a work of “fine art”.  The more time you spend with it, the more it will speak to your heart. 

I invite you to “walk” through this Psalm again.  Travel it as a sheep with a shepherd.  Pull up a chair at the banquet of a king who serves up “goodness and mercy”.  Take time to be blessed by Psalm 23.

Enjoy the blessing.  I’ll join you again tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop. 

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank you for the richness of the relationship we share with You.  Thank you for Psalm 23 and how it invites us into that blessing of traveling the trails of life with You.  Thank you for how You host us at the banquet of grace as Your guest.  Through our faith open our hearts more fully to the gift of life with You as expressed through this beautiful poem –prayer.  This we would pray in the name of our Shepherd King, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Psalm 23

Good Monday morning!  Glad to start out the week with you in the Pastor’s Workshop. 

As you know, our current series is “Prepare with Prayer”.  Our hope for this series is that prayer would be a powerful tool you can use more effectively to integrate your faith more fully into your daily living. 

Last week we looked at one of the most famous prayers in all the Scripture, the Lord’s Prayer.  We focused on the phrase, “Thy Kingdom come and Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  

This week we’re going to explore another of the Scripture’s most famous prayers, Psalm 23. We’ll focus on the phrase, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me.”  The title of our message this week is “Valley Trails”.

Here is our text in the New King James Version:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

On Mondays we spend “quality time” with the Scripture.  We read and re-read, write and re-write from multiple translations.  I like to use the New Revised Standard Version (our pew bible), the New King James Version (a more traditional translation), the Message (a modern paraphrase), the Living Bible (another modern paraphrase), and the Common English Bible.  They are all available for free on biblegateway.com.   Towards the end of your study time rephrase the Scripture in your own words, the (your name) Version. 

One of the reasons this Scripture is a favorite are the beautiful and powerful images it invokes.  One of the ways to immerse yourself in Psalm 23 is to form a series of pictures in your mind: green pastures, still waters, valley of the shadow, a table set, a cup overflowing, a home to dwell in. As you work through your preparation today let this imaging stir your “holy imagination”. 

Even as we study Psalm 23, there are certain Scriptures really worth committing to memory.  This is one of them.  Investing your time and energy in “planting” this psalm in your mind and heart will reap rich rewards in your life of faith. 

I’m glad to begin this week with you in this great Psalm.  I trust that as we study it together God will “lead us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”.

In that blessing I’ll let you get to work.  I’ll see you tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop.

Prayer:  Gracious God, thank You for the blessing of a brand new week.  Thank You we can enter into it studying Your Word.  Help us to know that in our study You would lead us in Your “paths of righteousness”, opening up our minds and hearts to your life-giving truths.  As we take the time to be in Psalm 23 help us know more deeply that “You are our Shepherd” and we do “dwell” with You forever.  In that blessing we enter this week and lift up this prayer, in the name of our great Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen