Spent the day with the senior high youth from church down in Matagorda. We played games, chatted, went fishing, went to the beach and ate fun food. It is good to get to know the kids better. Lessons learned so far: 1. When the season is rainy, bring mosquito spray and use lots of it. As soon as we opened the door to the van the little monsters attacked us in swarms. 2. Drink water. Lots of water. 3. Never assume that kids don't worship liturgically. We did portions of Evening Prayer from the ELW hymnal and we chanted together Psalm 121. We sang hymns not camp songs...they really enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong, camp songs are great but sometimes hymns are too. I'll post more as time goes on...

What is the first thing out of our mouth in the morning?

Good morning everyone. I made a conscious decision this morning that the first words out of my mouth would be from morning prayer in the ELW.

“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen”

When we ask God to open our mouths as creatures of the creator the very first thing that will come out of our mouths is a praise to the glory of God. There can be nothing more powerful and honest to come out of our lips and praise for the Almighty who created everything and is the source of all things. It's truly the finest way, the only way, to be honest about who we are and who God is.

The readings for today are from Psalm 78:23-29, Exodus 12:33-42, in First Corinthians 11:17-22.

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN WORSHIP

Good evening friends and family. I was headed off to bed and wanted to jot a few lines to you all. This evening I spent alone in relative silence with just a few books, my Bible, and my new personal sized ELW. There are so many gems in the new ELW not the least of which is a three-year lectionary based Bible reading schedule. There are several other pieces in the new hymnal that are helpful for lives of discipleship. I encourage you all to own an ELW of your own and use it in concert with your personal Bible. I will be using the new hymnal for a significant portion of confirmation and worship with the youth. So here is my question for you all: let's all think about what it means to worship as Evangelical Lutheran Christians. If you are versed in the German meaning of evangelical you might tell me that "evangelical Christian" is redundant...and you might be right. Nonetheless, it is an important term that we must know hold to if we are to fulfill the commands of Christ. Ta ya... More later... Tomorrow afternoon I will be in Houston visiting the Bishop's office.

Do the ordinary in an extraordinary way.

Source: feedly.com via Annie on Pinterest

I miss surfing...

Source: iainclaridge.co.uk via Gayle on Pinterest

Children Reenact Lord of the Flies on their School Bus

This is inappropriate behavior and shall not be tolerated.  The parents in this community will need to form a group that rides the bus with their children.

Here was a Facebook post regarding the story:

 I met a woman who told me her boy was getting bad grades and screwing up in class so she went to school with him and followed him to each class and sat behind him in every class...total embarrassment worked. Her boy cleaned it up and is now quite successful. This article goes back to faithful parenting. That is why I said a group of parents should ride the bus so that the parents can share the burden of being away from work.

Parents, repeat after me: "I will completely ruin your social life to ensure that you grow up to be a respectful loving person."

Denomination

Morning Saint Paul People


This article by David Lose (pronounced L-O-se with a long O) is very good and presents us all with some great talking points.

1. What does church at Saint Paul in Columbus look like in a "post-denominational' and "post-Christian" context?
2. How do we Lutherans see ourselves and how does everyone else see us?  This question is especially important while considering how non-Christians or inactive Christians view us here at Saint Paul.
3. This one I thought particularly important, "Inordinate amounts of funding are spent on maintaining denominational structures and bureaucracies, money that could be spent on mission."  How do we justify spending money on that which helps not mission?  As Christians, mission is priority one.  That means all other things are secondary.  So here's a good question: what takes priority in your congregation?

See where that takes you for the day.

Remember, the promise is: "...and I will be with you...even until the end of the age."  The end of denominationalism is the beginning of a new thing that God is doing.  Worry not about the future there are enough things to worry about today.

P.S., Let's change some vocabulary.  I have heard many people ask, "What religion are you?"  The answer to that question would be "Christian".  However, the question many are really asking is, "From which denomination do you come?"  The answer there would be "Lutheran".

There is one true faith and that is Christianity.  However, Christians come in various forms...these are called denominations.  Just like a dollar is a dollar, there are several different "denominations" of dollars, like fives, tens, fifties, and hundreds.  Don't take that parallel too far though.  I would say that each denomination of Christianity holds a bit of the truth of the One True Faith.