Last week was the first anniversary of my leaving the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and I discovered this wonderful commentary on why people leave the Roman Catholic church (thanks to Pastor Gillespie). I have seen this in numerous Lutheran churches and seem to hear the same commentary from other ex-LCMS members. Pastor Harrison, maybe this can be the NEW focus rather than recoloring your thirty year old logo.
Tags: Church, Roman Catholicism
You may think that setting boundaries are an essential part of life and may be very good at it in your daily life. However, the boundaries might be a bit harder to manage in a Christian ministry context. Perhaps you are a Youth Minister/Leader, Pastor, Sunday School Teacher. Perhaps you are just Joe Pewsitter Layman. Even if you are not officially in a leadership position, you may be doing ministry. Let’s look at it this way. Joe is sitting in church, has his hymnal out, ready for the service to begin. He looks at the pew in front of him and sees a young mother (Mary) and her child. He has never seen them before. She looks a bit uncomfortable, that is she looks like she’s a first time visitor. Joe greets her and finding out she is goes ahead and gives her guidance so she can fully participate in the service. After the service, Joe makes an effort to make her feel welcome in the church, whether it be just a chat in the nave or a visit to a local coffee shop. Ask Joe if he is in ministry, he’d quickly respond no, he’s just being friendly. Yet, I’d disagree…for Mary he ministered for her needs to be welcomed and accepted into a church. Perhaps the quick greeting, welcoming moment they shared will develop into a relationship where Joe and Mary become friends, cementing Mary’s connection to the church where she can grow.
In reading the reading for today from my bible reading plan, I was drawn to Leviticus 19. I’ll admit that I usually skip reading this book, since it seems so foreign to us. That is one of the main reasons that I chose to do a bible reading plan. I am glad that I did.
We know that Exodus and Deuteronomy have the ten commandments, but what I had forgotten – for it has been a long time since I read Leviticus, is what is in chapter 19. Titled in my study bible as “A Call to Holiness”, it reminds me of the way God wants me to live my life. I am reminded of a number of things…
As we are in the holiday season we are getting a lot of thank you’s from the places we do business. Some send greeting cards, others post cards, and yet some emails. However, many of these greetings are generic “May you have a great holiday and a wonderful new year. Two that stuck out in my mind that I received recently are:
Johnsen & Taylor (a local Christian bookstore owned by Tyndale Publishers)
Unexpected, but appreciated. Clearly offering me a warm greeting, but also encourages my return business – ever so subtly of course. I love Johnsen and Taylor.
We live in a time of rationalization, a time where there are no moral absolutes, no transcendent universals in our society. Yet, Christ holds us to a higher standard, the standard of God’s word. Clearly, lying is prohibited by the ten commandments…after all, the 9th commandment (8th for Roman Catholic and Lutheran readers) clearly states that one should not bear false witness. But the question for today is whether it is ever appropriate to lie.
I thought it wasn’t about the money. Good riddance, greedy Albert.
This past weekend I had an opportunity to go on my first youth leader staff retreat. It was quite an interesting weekend. We went up to a “resort” – well sort of – at Lake Delavan. We even got to see some snow!
Now thru December 12, you can download the NIV for offline use in Youversion. Get it now http://www.youversion.com/ since it normally isn’t available for download!
You may remember several years ago I mentioned that I had acquired the Holman Christian Standard Bible for my Bible collection. Well, a friend has informed me that it is available, for free, in a study edition at:
http://www.mystudybible.com/
Also, you can check out my friends blog.
Really? Yeah, you might not like your parents decisions – but they still are your parents!
Raised in a $1.5 million Barrington Hills home by their attorney father, two grown children have spent the last two years pursuing a unique lawsuit against their mom for “bad mothering” damages allegedly caused when she failed to buy toys for one and sent another a birthday card he didn’t like.
The alleged offenses include failing to take her daughter to a car show, telling her then-7-year-old son to buckle his seat belt or she would contact police, “haggling” over the amount to spend on party dresses and calling her daughter at midnight to ask that she return home from celebrating homecoming.