Loving God and Neighbor
Some years ago the church I served bought Stations of the Cross for the new sanctuary. They are nice; brass renditions of each of the 14 stations each on a piece of wood about one-foot square. We planned to have seven on each side of the sanctuary. I happened to be in the sanctuary when our contractor’s supervisor mounted them. I was amazed.
If it were me, and thankfully it wasn’t, I would have mounted the first one, getting it the right height and so on. I would have then moved to the second one and done the same. I would have been very careful and it would have taken me a long time, maybe a day or two. In all honesty I would probably have had to re-hang a few along the way.
Read More
God's Triple Action Formula
God promises to feed with his love; as a result, our hearts, that part of us that is nearest to God, shall rejoice, and our bodies shall flourish like the grass.
When it comes to grass, you can go to Walmart, Lowe’s or Home Depot and find all sorts of products designed to feed the grass in your lawn. Here is a picture of a bag of Scott’s Turf Builder. It has a triple-action formula. It not only feeds your lawn so that your grass grows tall, thick and green with deep roots. It will also kill your weeds and get rid of fire ants.
God’s prophet Isaiah tells us that God has his own triple-action formula that will kill the spiritual weeds that may take root and grow out of our hearts. It will also repel anything that might sting our hearts or our bodies like a fire ant, and it will feed our hearts and bodies so that we can grow up to be like Jesus.
Read More
Thin Places
I was very blessed to spend the last week at Camp Wingmann, serving as chaplain as I have done every summer since 2004. I always find that week to be among the very best weeks that I have every year for one simple reason. There are a lot of pieces that point to that one simple reason: great worship time, joyful music, the delight of watching children enjoy their time together under the mantle of learning more about their faith including prayer, watching the staff function and grow in their capacity for leadership. And, there’s lots of comfort food!
All of those point to the one thing. It is this: Camp Wingmann is what the Celtics would refer to as a “thin place,” where the veil between heaven and earth is thin. We are blessed anytime we get to visit such places. The Church of the Good Shepherd is one of those places.
Read More
