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Text of the page (random words):
justice you are a people of forgiveness and freedom you are a people chosen to be set apart to be a light to the world your lives bear witness to the love god has for the everyone and everything you are a resurrection people whose eyes are fixed on god s new horizon where all sorrow pain and suffering is transformed into abundant life for all you are perfect as your heavenly father is perfect or to perhaps the best translation is you are complete post here posted by unknown at 24 2 14 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels epiphany 7a go the extra mile kevin powell lutheran resistance sermon st john golden spike turn the other cheek wednesday december 18 2013 a week until christmas and all i have to do is print out the bulletins sermons are prepared prayers written gifts bought and delivered i even hung up my one christmas decoration a star that my youngest daughter made for me and after that i have to think about christmas 1a where we abruptly shift gears and move from embracing a baby in barn to mourning the deaths of hundreds of babies because of that one baby there s so much rich and terrible material for the sunday after christmas in matthew s year the story is both raw and real the baby jesus barely has time to soil his first diapers before he is smuggled into egypt as a refugee this story is kind of a reversal of caiaphas claim that it is better to have one person die for the people john 18 4 since many had died for the sake of the one and some ask why didn t or couldn t stop the slaughter of those children but this story is clearly an echo of the night in egypt when the angel of death killed the first born sons of those who didn t have lamb s blood over their doorposts but i m not fully sure what that connection means but what i do know is that we understand killing we re familiar with those who use their standings for their own awful ambitions and we can tell other stories of those who use terrible means to maintain or retain their powerful position this is not news so this baby this word made flesh was marked for death right from the beginning because our human impulse is toward death so god came that we would have life i think there s a start of a sermon in that posted by unknown at 18 12 13 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday october 06 2013 sermon pentecost 20c so we come to church with our tiny faith tucked neatly in our pocket out of sight but hoping that here among god s people through god s redeeming word and saving sacrament our little bundle of faith will grow into maturity the details may be different but the concern is common to everyone you think that your faith could be larger than it is you feel like you lack the strength of certainty that jesus seems to have and that you often see in others you have questions that haunt you doubts that dog you and you maybe even have pain that simply won t go away a pain which constantly reminds you that you are weak and frail and you lack the inner resources to move your life ahead in any meaningful way or you re searching for something bigger than yourself or even bigger than your world you re looking for something that binds everything together so that the mess and chaos of the world will make some kind of sense you worry that hope is an illusion a story we tell ourselves to make an unknown future a little less scary you re afraid that you re forgetting how to love because you ve been hurt so badly you want to know that the droning of your daily routine matters somehow in god s grand design you want to believe that you haven t walked the planet in vain and that your life and your labour will live on after you re gone you want faith that will help you truly know that when you close your eyes in death you will open them again in the presence of god and all your sorrows questions doubts and frailties will be traded for confidence newness and strength and so in response to all our longings all our fears and all our questions we gather here as one family lifting up the deepest concerns of our hearts and together we pray lord increase our faith well forget it jesus won t whole thing here posted by unknown at 6 10 13 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday september 15 2013 sermon pentecost 17c it s no wonder why so many people are turned off by christianity when there s so many negative voices dominating religious discourse when i encounter an atheist or agnostic or someone who simply walked away from christianity i usually encounter someone who s been hurt by christians and i hear all sorts of stories of christians behaving badly i hear stories about the mean sunday school teacher who scolded them for asking uncomfortable questions about the creation story saying questions reveal doubt and that doubt is a sin i hear stories about the angry preacher who condemned them for walking away from an abusive marriage because they say divorce is a sin i hear stories about the overly pious aunt who said that science was from the pit of hell when they told her they were studying biology at school and when they drive past churches they don t see places where god s people dwell they don t see places where they feel they can walk through the door without wearing spiritual body armour they see places where they have to become someone they know they aren t nor who they want to be before they can even start looking for a parking spot whole thing here update link added posted by unknown at 15 9 13 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 99 found jesus kevin powell lost lost coin lost sheep lutheran pentecost 17c pharisees sermon sinners st john golden spike tuesday august 27 2013 pastor is that an iphone in your pocket or six reasons i use social media for ministry nb this is a guest post for ryan holtz s blog which can be found here check it out wow i ve never meet a pastor who uses social media like you do i often hear which surprises me because social media use among clergy is growing and social media has become an important part of my ministry it s the way the world is talking here are six reasons why i use social media for ministry 1 it connects me with a wider community in my job it s easy to be insular it s a cliche that ministry is a 24 7 enterprise and that can be true but while i rarely get that 3 00 am phone call there is always something to do social media helps me see beyond the church world into the wider world that we say god loves and helps me make relationships with people i might not meet otherwise for example i m writing this for ryan holtz ryanholtz1 and we have never personally met yet i have found our twitter interactions valuable also when i was living in lethbridge i made connections in the community through twitter powe2550 allowing me access to opportunities and partnerships that would never have been available to me without social media 2 it connects me to the daily lives of those in my congregation a governing principle of social media in my denomination evangelical lutheran church in canada is to wait until a congregation member friends the pastor on facebook or follows on twitter or instagram or connects on linkedin before reciprocating the thinking is that there is a power dynamic at play and pastors shouldn t use their pastoral authority to push their way into the social media lives of those to whom they minister that s wise guidance but it s also a little paranoid just like asking for a pastoral visit where i get to experience my members in their natural habitat and gain insight into their lives and faith in ways i can t in the brief sunday morning interactions i ask to connect on social media so i can experience them in a more meaningful way and they can see what i m up to it goes both ways i m not spying on them as some have suggested but building relationships with the tools that people use today i have ministered to people in crisis over facebook and have said prayers for people over twitter these tools enhance my ministry in ways i couldn t have dreamed of when i started as a pastor 3 it connects me to a variety of perspectives that i wouldn t otherwise encounter some social media commentators are worried that tools like facebook and twitter are polarizing the political discourse since users can choose who they will and will not follow or engage with that users will only follow people or read content they agree with they re concerned that people are unfriending cousin janet in california for voting for obama or are blocking the tweets of a high school buddy who has since become a fox news fanatic which lowers the variety of voices people hear and diminishes informed political thought which results in splitting people unduly into two camps and negatively influencing policy that may be true for some but i have friends and followers from across the political and theological spectrum having such a diversity of thought cross my screen each day keeps me from tweeting in an echo chamber for example i swing to the left both politically and theologically yet conservative commentator david frum davidfrum is one of my favourite tweeters i find that i need alternative views to challenge my own ideas and beliefs to protect me from lazy group think 4 it connects me to a larger body of colleagues who both affirm and challenge me i find social media very helpful in gaining new ideas for ministry and insight into older models i often throw questions out for colleagues in twitter and facebook such as what s the most helpful preaching resource you use and receive useful feedback also late one december i was banging my head against my keyboard hoping a christmas sermon would pop out but nothing was coming so i went on twitter and complained about sermon block within an hour 20 preachers had sent me drafts of their christmas sermons while i didn t use any of them they were excellent inspiration for coming up with my own and we had wonderful conversations and debates regarding the content of the sermons 5 it connects me to others when i m feeling alone since i live alone and mostly work alone nights can get mighty lonely and i ve found social media connects me with others also when i separated from my wife in 2009 my connections on social media usually divorced men themselves created a virtual support which helped me get through some pretty tough nights while some say that social media connections aren t real these friends were and are pretty real to me even though i have never met most of them in person social media friends never replace face to face friends they re another form of relationship that should not be diminished 6 it connects the gospel message to those in my networks social media is the newest way to proclaim the good news of jesus christ and not just by posting my sermons or tweeting inspirational quotes or bible passages but also by sharing good news in a bad news world tweeting words of love and encouragement proclaiming what i believe to be true that god is active and alive in the world creating something new and beautiful each day i would never send an unwanted tweet or comment on an facebook status without thinking about how it would be received any more than i would stand on a street corner and preach at people as they walk by my message is built as much upon relationships as it is by my faith new technology has always been used by churches to connect with others and proclaim their message for me social media has become so in grained into my ministry that i can t imagine how i would minister without it feel free to connect with me i would love to continue the conversation posted by unknown at 27 8 13 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday august 11 2013 sermon pentecost 12c do not be afraid little flock for it is your father s good pleasure to give you the kingdom i don t know what you hear in this passage but sometimes such promises increase my blood pressure mainly because of the second half of jesus statement where jesus fleshes out what he means sell your possessions and give alms make purses for yourselves that do not wear out an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief comes near and no moth destroys for where your treasure is there your heart will be also no doubt jesus is right we spend money on things that are important to us economists tell us that all spending is emotional spending heart spending it s not rational it s a personal expression of our deepest selves no matter how much we tell ourselves otherwise and i d rather not have jesus poking around in the most personal areas of my life i d rather keep jesus at a safe distance when it comes to my money in fact martin luther once said that the last part of a person to be converted is the person s wallet and when i look back at my own financial history i m uncomfortable with how right he is i m reminded of this passage each month when my whole thing here posted by unknown at 11 8 13 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday june 16 2013 sermon pentecost 4c you know pastor he said there are a lot of people in our churches but there aren t very many christians i beg your pardon i replied there are too many people who go to church but don t live by god s law they live just like everyone else they re fake christians he said is that right i replied turning my chair to indicate that this was a conversation i no interest in being a part of but he didn t take the hint yeah too many people think they re christians but they really aren t there s no repentance no outward evidence that they they believe in god there s too much immorality too many concessions to the secular world they don t believe in the truth of the bible sigh really i replied hoping my monosyllabic answers might discourage him but they seemed to do the opposite he was just getting started people think that they can sin and still be part of christ s church the bible is clear god hates sin god demands obedience from us not disobedience but didn t jesus die for our sins i asked jesus may have died for our sins but that doesn t mean we can still go on sinning and expect to go to heaven he replied so we can stop sinning if we just put our minds to it i asked yes he said god gave us free will so we can choose to sin or not to sin if god has given us the freedom to sin or not to sin then why did jesus have to die for our sins why didn t he just say hey folks don t sin wouldn t that have been easier and from there it was on he had pushed my last whole thing here posted by unknown at 16 6 13 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels forgiveness pentecost4c self righteous christians sermon sinners sunday may 19 2013 sermon day of pentecost c one thing i find troubling about the christian church is that...