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The begining of the journey…Hosanna

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The beginning of a journey is sometimes the most interesting part. Last Sunday morning we saw a pretty amazing storm run through Big Rapids Michigan. Trees were all over and the power was out for many people.   When I made it to church early Sunday morning we had no power and no heat.  It was going to be an interesting beginning to our journey of holy week.  Yet 56 people came to celebrate Palm Sunday.  I was amazed by the willingness of people who had no power and probably more important for many no coffee, make it to worship.  As a staff we gathered at Church and wondered what we should do.  We felt that when people came we should worship. So we got up there and did it.  The light was shining in for the beginning of the service but mid way through clouds came rolling back in and you could hardly see. Pastor mid sermon had to get a light just to read from the scripture for the message. It has to be the first time I have ever seen anything like it.  It was amazing and probably one of the most profound worship services I have every been to.  (By the way at late service we had power which made doing the songs and screens we had planned for that service much easier.)

Holy week for a church worker is always busy and hectic, however it is one of my favorite times of year.  I love the way our worship service really lasts all week.  It is a continuation of the story.  Palm Sunday is the beginning with our king coming to fulfill what he was meant to do.  He was meant to be the Messiah who has come to save us.  While sitting in the dark I was struck by how amazing it is that we have a God who loved us enough to come in our dark place and be our Messiah.  As we shout hosanna, God save us, I am reminded of our need for that savior Jesus.  For six weeks we have waited.  We have gone through lent and examined the destruction of sin.  We have seen the “storms” come upon us.  Sunday we examined the real reason Jesus came. He came to save us.  He came as a servant who will give himself freely on our behalf.  The one who calmed the storm, cast our demons and raised the dead has come to bring us hope in our storm.

This week as you enjoy the journey.  As you spent time with Jesus on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday may you be reminded of the reason the king came to Jerusalem.  Not to be crowned the great king but to be the great servant king.  May we remember that even in our dark places Jesus has come to save us.  And to that we shout hosanna!! God save us! Enjoy the journey my friends.

Come and listen! Come and listen to what Jesus has done!

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One of my favorite songs by David Crowder Band is “Come and listen.” The song reminders me of the importance of sharing with people what Jesus has done for them. Sometimes in ministry we forget how essential that is. As I was sitting with a bunch of high school students for youth group I was stuck by something. I was struck by my calling to bring people to come and listen to Jesus.

I find in ministry I can fail at the sharing with people what Jesus has done for them.  I can struggle to hear for myself what Jesus has done for me. Every three weeks at youth group I have asked our students to take 30 minutes in prayer. We spend time praying for friends requests on our prayer wall. We also spend some of that time in the scripture. This week during that time I opened up to Ezekiel 37. It is one of my favorite texts in all of scripture. I love the story it tells about dry bones. I love what is says about our life of faith and our walk with Jesus. It talks about God’s promise to bring us from death to life. It points us to Jesus and what he does for us.

I have found in my life that often when we are struggling with their faith, when our faith is dyeing, it is because we haven’t come and listened. We forgot the importance of being in God’s word and listening to what he has done. .

So the question today I am struggling with, am I coming and listening? Am I helping students come and listen to what Jesus has done? Am I listening to what Jesus has done for me on the cross and in my life each day? How about you?  If not I would ask you to come with me and listen to what Jesus has done for you and me.

Speaking the truth in love. Being right and wrong at the same time.

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Life and ministry are messy. When your sitting in a class in college it all seems so easy. Everything is black and white, you can always look in a book for answers. I sometimes long for the day when I could sit in a class room and just think about ministry instead of having to get in the trenches and speak truth into peoples lives. Alas, that is not possible. We can’t stay in the classroom forever we are all called by God to get in the trenches. Whether it is ministry or any walk of life you eventually have to get into the real world. That is where it gets messy.

Speaking the truth in love is a very difficult thing. First and formost speaking truth in someone’s life is a struggle because sometimes we can stand up and think we are speaking “The truth” but in reality we are just speaking our truth. You can’t always know the difference, but I would tell you humility and prayer is where you should start. In any conversation about difficult issues you may end up offending someone or hurting someone because what you learned in class is all well and good, but this is someones real life and it can hurt. You need to be careful.

So how do you speak the truth in love? I often tell people that you can be right and wrong all at the same time. You can be speaking the truth but doing it as such a jerk that you get it wrong. You can do great damage and never get that truth to them because you speak in such a poor way. Speaking the truth in love is one of the hardest things in life to do. The second most important part of speaking the truth in love happens before you speak. Before you speak listen, listen, listen. You can’t speak the truth to someone without listening to them. Understand their story so you can speak truth into it. Lastly understand that you can speak all the truth and all the love you want to a person and sometimes they just won’t hear you. Sometimes their heart is hard, or sometimes you aren’t the one who gets to see their lives changed. Truth change happens when

This is hard part about speaking the truth in love. You do it to people, and people are messy. As you and I speak the truth to people. Let us remember to speak it in love.

Why do we suffer?

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I have been asked many times by many different people in ministry why we have to suffer in this world. They normally say it like this. “If God is truly in charge then why do bad things happen?” Why is all this stuff happening to good people? Why am I suffering?

It is something I think every Christian has heard from their non-believing, and believing friends. We all want to have great lines to say to them because we want to help them through their sorrow. Often we say things like God doesn’t give us more than we can handle… PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS TO PEOPLE! When you are going through the death of a loved one, lose of a job, betrayal of a friend, this doesn’t help, it just turns people against the one thing that can bring them hope. Sometimes life really does give us more than we can handle on our own. We sometimes do need others to walk beside us. We need Christ in our life to help us through this time of suffering.

So I go back to why do we have to suffer? Paul in Romans 5:1-5 helps us see this suffering for what it is.

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. ESV

suffering is a result of sin, not just our sin or others sin, but sin that is in the world. Sin causes all forms of pain in this life.  Sin a three letter word that causes so much damage.  Romans 5 1-8 talks about the suffering we have but that we also have peace with God.  We have suffering because of the sin in our lives.  When you wake up in the morning with pain, this is a result of sin.  When you have a broken relationship in your life it is a result of sin.  Mostly in that case it is your sin and someone else’s sin.  When a loved one dies to early of something like cancer it is a result of sin in the world. Sin has wrecked everything.  Yet we have hope that in this life and the world to come Jesus is bringing his whole creation back to perfection.  We can have hope that one day we will not have pain,  we will not have broken relationships, we will not have death anymore.  We know that we suffer now for a little while so that all people might be saved.

Next time a friend, or family member asks why do we have to suffer? You can remind them it is sin.  Its the simple answer that may not be the most comforting but it is the truth.  Also remind them we can give thanks to Christ who came to overcome sin, death and the power of the devil.  That one day their will be no more sorrow and no more pain in this world.  This suffering is only for a little while here on earth.  I am reminded lastly that as follower of Jesus who has gone through suffering I pray my response to this is like the prophet Habakkuk.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer’s;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

 

Are we pointing them to Jesus?

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This weekend I got to spend time doing something I really enjoy.  I spent time at Concordia University Ann Arbor at an event I spent four years serving and investing in to help students grow in faith.  It was a joy to take students to this event this year, but it was probably more special to me because my daughter was able to attend the event as well. This weekend was definitely the high of the week.

The problem with ministry much like life is that it is filled with far too many lows and not nearly enough highs.  You see the whole week leading up to the event is spent in the mundane of meetings, meetings, reading, meetings…did I mention meetings.  It was a long week.  Thankfully, it was a fulfilling time in life and ministry.

I think I discovered why it was so fulfilling based on the Gospel lesson for last Sunday.  John 3:16 is one of those texts that is very powerful and although it gives me great hope I think the important part of the verse is the story leading up to it, John 3:1-15.  The story brings images of the symbol of us living in darkness and Jesus being our light.  I love how Jesus reminds us of the point of this season in the Church year, His cross.

We, as the Church and disciples of God are called to point His people to the cross.  At Tool Time, I got to experience a group of students leading an event dedicated to leading students to that cross (this is not an altar call moment).  What I mean is these students were constantly showing the students I serve, Jesus.  Whether it was small groups, general session speakers, or time in the chapel for offerings, the goal of the weekend was to show them Jesus’ love.  It wasn’t about awesome bands, or great sets, servant events, or funny skits.  All those things were about pointing kids to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

This week reminded me of something so important in my ministry and my life.  It is how I should judge everything I do with students, with my family, and with those I meet.  I should say to myself did I show them Jesus?  Did I point them to the cross?  No matter how you do this, no matter what vocation God has called you to serve in, remember our call as the people of Christ is to point them to Jesus. I want to point them to His life, death, and resurrection so that we might have that eternal life hear on earth and in the life to come.