The Yucky Stuff

Well, it finally happened...I got the flu that had been going around our house.  Isaac started it, passed it to Tracy, then Alex, and just when I thought I was in the clear wham-mo.  Isaac and I got it the worst of course, so I'm sitting at home today recovering and thinking about the Yucky stuff...not only the flu, but some of the yucky stuff we're asked to do in life.
When I'm talking about the yucky stuff I'm talking about more then cleaning up after your kids when they just don't make it to the bathroom in time!  Thanks Tracy for keeping the streak intact and taking another one for the team.  What I mean about yucky stuff is all the behind the scene work that goes into making life, and more specifically our church work.  You know, the behind the scenes stuff, the stuff that needs to be done but no one likes to do...the stuff you hardly ever get thanked for.  Without someone willing to do the yucky stuff in our church life we would struggle to get as much done as a church family as we do.  Think about the planning that goes into making sure we have lunch for the church sale or any dinner we host.  How about the cleaning of the church, the refilling of the candles, the hanging of the banners, the making of desserts, the volunteering for children's sermon and church, the million other things that people step up and take care of without the thought of a thanks.
We as a church family are very good at stepping up when the need arises.  We just completed another successful church auction and we've met the challenges of VBS and Sunday school and various other offerings our church has.  I know I can't name everyone I'd like to thank, so I'm just going to say thank you to all who do the yucky stuff that holds our church together.
Now, just because we do have a good cast of characters who do the yucky stuff doesn't mean we couldn't do better.  We're entering into the time of the year when positions on certain boards are going to need to be filled.  Please prayerfully consider saying yes when called to serve.  Also, we can always use more help with activities and pretty much anything else that is happening around the church.  I know the yucky stuff isn't fun and glamorous all the time, but it is necessary and it is fulfilling work.  So, I challenge you to step up and do volunteer for one more thing this coming year in the church life.  Serve on a board, volunteer to help with an upcoming dinner, volunteer for a children's sermon or children's church, and let's see if we can't continue to grow our church family.

Hope

I can't wait for tomorrow...all of the robo calls and letters and political ads will be over, at least for 2 years or maybe 1 year...well at least for awhile.  Man, if half of that money were used for education, food banks, infrastructure, but I digress.  I'm not here to whine about the election and the 24 hr news cycle.  I'm here to talk about a word that I think we all need to focus on a little more...hope.
I watch a television show on cable called "The Walking Dead."  It is a story about a zombie apocalypse and a group of people trying to survive.  The show isn't for the faint of heart, and in its third season it is going strong.  After watching this past episode I think I might be done with the show.  The show never has a good ending.  There is no hope for the living in the show.  I can predict each episode...survivors find safe place, zombies find survivors and another member of the group dies.  The only thing that changes is the scenes are getting more and more gory.  I know what you're saying..."It's a zombie apocalypse show what do you expect?"  I guess what I expect, what I need to keep me engaged, is some hope.  I need to see the survivors have a good day once.  I need to feel that there is going to be light at the end of  the tunnel.  I don't get that from this show and I don't think I can stomach it anymore.
We need hope in our lives too.  With the election coming up very shortly you hear doom and gloom scenarios from each side if they lose.  One thing I can predict about the election is that for a lot of people the "right" person isn't going to win.  So does that mean for those people who's candidate doesn't win there is no hope?  The country is in a free fall to nothing?  I don't believe that... no matter if the person I vote for wins or not.  You see my hope isn't in this world.  I know that there is more to this life then politics, career, pain, suffering, etc.  This life is temporary.  Of course I want my time on earth to be as comfortable and joyful as possible, but I also know everything will pale in comparison to eternity with Jesus. 
I guess what I'm trying to say is we have hope.  When we begin to believe there is no hope then life becomes too much to stomach.  There is hope even when life might be tough right now.  Hope for better days and a hope that stems from the promises of God to never leave your or forsake you.  So when the next president is decided, when life throws you the next curve ball, when you begin to think that life is in a downward spiral remember you have someone willing to cry and suffer with you.  You have a savior that has been through much more than you and truly knows how you feel.  Remember that there are friends, family, and a community that is ready and willing to help walk with you through the dark times if  you'll reach out and let them.  Remember...we have hope that this life is temporary and better days are truly ahead.

A shout out..!

We made the quick trip to MN this weekend so Tracy could cross an item off her bucket list.  She ran a half marathon.  13.1 miles!  It was cold, but it was awesome.  I could not have been more proud of her.  I think of the beginning of her journey when she started the program to get herself in shape to run that far.  I think of the dedication that she put in, and the many times she'd come home and say man I didn't want to run that far today.  I was impressed by her dedication let me tell ya. Well, she put the effort in and it all paid off.  Way to go Tracy!!!
I don't have a lot of inspiration this morning.  Watching Tracy run 13.1 miles was inspiring, but it didn't make me want to run that far.  I once ran 4 miles with her and that was plenty far let me tell ya.  I did take a lesson from this though...maybe a couple...1) Tracy looked better after running 13.1 miles then I do on my best day, 2) don't make her mad because she can out run me, and 3) when we make something a priority in our lives we carve out the time to do it.
I've spent more then a few blogs talking about our need to talk to God, pray, do devotions, and attend worship services.  I talk about those things because I struggle at times with my relationship with God and I need reminding of it's importance.  I also talk about these things because I think they are vital for our lives.  When we place importance on something we find time to do it.  If watching football on Sunday is important to us we'll plan the weekend around it.  If going out with family and friends is important we'll plan our week so we can have that night free.  If volunteering for our community is important we'll find time to work it into our schedule.  If training for a half marathon is important we'll find time to do it.  What I'm trying to get at is we are all busy, but we will find the time for important things in our lives.  I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is: "Is my relationship with God important?"  If it is then we'll find ways to include the Spirit in our lives...if it isn't then we will always be too busy.  

Conversation on the Road...

A week or two ago my wife and I went to a NU vs. MN volleyball game in Lincoln, and we had an interesting conversation on the road.  I suppose there were many interesting parts to our conversation, but I'll spare you the details about our children and various other discussions spouses with children have when they are alone!  The conversation that stuck in my mind was the one we had about heaven, blessings, church attendance, and our relationship with God.  That's right...when we travel we don't travel light!
What got the conversation rolling was my out loud thought..."what do you suppose happens to people who basically ignore God all their lives and then stand before God after this life?"  My wife, in her infinite wisdom says, "I dunno."  Well of course I don't know either, but my puzzeler was thinking about what did people expect from God if they basically ignored him all their lives and then they die.  Did they expect a full pardon?  Did the expect to go to hell?  Did they even consider or worry about any of those consequences?  As Tracy and I talked a lot of ideas flowed forth and I think I was enlightened.  Or was the enlightening about me picking up my socks...well I digress.
I guess I was wondering what the benefits were of a relationship with God beyond our traditional thoughts of saving us from hell.  Honestly, I got out of the business of deciding who was going to heaven and who was not.  Besides, if that is your sole reason for believing in God then I think you're missing a big part of what God has in store for you.  Only God knows a person's heart, and only God gets to decided who's in or out so I'm not concerned with that discussion.  What Tracy and I talked about was what people are missing on earth by neglecting their relationship with God.
As we talked I articulated my belief that a solid relationship with God leads us to more and more blessings on earth.  I'm not talking the prosperity Gospel here...more faith does not equal more money.  Also, more faith and a solid relationship with God doesn't mean no suffering; Job tells us otherwise.  But, I do believe that if we grow our relationship with God then we will experience a better life here on earth.  Our relationships with family and friends will be better, our outlook on life will be better, and when the tough times come we will have a better footing to stand on and help us through them.  I do believe God wants to bless us with a great number of things and we miss a lot of them because we neglect our relationship with the Spirit.  We don't attend church to nurture our faith and connect with like minded people who are on a similar journey.  We don't take the time to pray and spend time in God's word to allow ourselves to connect with the Spirit.  We think we are so busy with just living life that we miss maybe the most important aspect of our lives and that's our relationship with God. 
Obviously I believe in the value of going to church, spending time in the Scriptures, and carving out time for devotions and prayer.  I've seen the blessings that come from that.  Unfortunately I've also struggled at times with those 3 things and I've seen how life isn't as good.  I want so much for people to see and experience what God has to offer them...God is always there waiting and hoping and knocking on our hearts...the question is can we find the time to let the Spirit in?  I hope so.

Spoiler Alert

If you were in church on Sunday and heard my sermon then this blog might be a little repetitious.  Also, if you haven't seen/heard the sermon on Facebook then this blog might be a little bit of a spoiler.  But, the sermon is SO good you should really check it out anyway!
Since Group 3:16, our combined youth group with the Neola Presbyterian church, and the lesson on faith I presented I've done a lot of thinking about how life gets in the way of and/or affects my faith.  The lesson for the youth group talked a little bit about how you define faith and that faith is the belief in something that you cannot irrefutably prove.  That's a pretty basic understanding of faith.  Once you can put facts to something you begin to move out of the realm of faith.  In my sermon on Sunday I talked a little bit about how suffering can really have an impact on our faith.  A lot of times suffering can cause us to lose faith.  We begin to think that our lack of faith caused our suffering, or that God doesn't care about us because if God did care we certainly wouldn't be going through the tough times.  That's where the book of Job does a great job of teaching us about suffering.  Job suffered for no reason, and he takes his complaint and belief that he did nothing to cause this suffering to God.  Job demands God answer him as to why he was suffering so.  Well, Job finally gets an answer, and God basically tells Job that he cannot understand the way the universe works and that suffering is a mystery.  Job doesn't instruct as to how we can live to avoid suffering.  Job doesn't tell us why suffering occurs.  Job shows us that we can remain faithful through suffering because God never leaves us or abandons us. 
Our faith may struggle a little bit when we suffer.  We may have doubts, we will certainly have questions, and we may even be angry with God and demand answers.  All are valid responses, but they can't be our only response.  We may not get the answers we want as to why we're suffering, but we must never lose sight of the fact that God suffers with us.  Even though we might feel that God is picking on us, or at the very least ignoring us, we must remember that God does no such thing and that the Spirit is right there with us even crying and hurting with us.  Once we truly believe that God is there with us through it all we can bear the tough times a little easier.  The pain won't go away magically, but our burden will be eased and our faith will grow stronger because we'll realize that connection with the Spirit was never broken.  I will repeat Philip Yancey's quote about faith because I think he does a great job explaining it..“I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.”

No one likes Nagging Nellie

In my sermon on Sunday I read a story about a church lady who constantly complained about everything in the church.  The story was at the same time funny and sad.  Funny at some of the things she complained about and sad because like any good story there is a lot of truth behind it.  My sermon was on our need to be people who build up the body of Christ and fellow humans and not be like the lady in the story who complained about everything.  I confessed that I sometimes get the urge to complain about a job someone is doing instead of offering to help.  I also confessed that I can be jealous of someone who takes a position that I used to hold and does the job well, or I find myself nitpicking at everything they do.  We are so quick to complain and nitpick instead of help and build up.  Why is that?  Why when someone is doing a job well do I catch myself having feelings of envy and jealousy?  Why isn't my first reaction one of joy and happiness for a job well done?  Am I the only one that finds it easier to tear down then build up? 
It's not like I run around complaining all the time and tearing people down because I can recognize that feeling of jealousy and the urge to nitpick and remember that's not how Jesus wants us to treat fellow brothers and sisters.  I can recognize that first urge and realize it is wrong, and most of the time I can offer help and/or be glad for a job well done.  My question is why the silly urge in the first place? 
We need to make sure we aren't just waiting for someone to fail.  We need to make sure we are doing our level best to help and build up the body of Christ.  Just because someone does something differently, or heaven forbid better then us, doesn't give us license to tear them down.  The world would be a terribly boring place if we all followed the same ideas wouldn't it?  If you find yourself having the urge to complain, nitpick, or tear someone down for the job they are doing take a hard look at yourself and the situation.  Can you give some gentle advice and help the person out?  Are the feelings coming from a place of jealousy and envy?  Think about how Jesus would have you respond.  Sometimes a little change is just what's need to spark some new energy.  We certainly don't want to be the ones to snuff out that spark.

Confirmation Sunday

What a cool worship on Sunday!  Not that other Sundays are cool too, but this past Sunday had an extra cool factor.  We got to confirm 7 wonderful teenagers.  It was the culmination of a year's worth of blood, sweat and tears...mostly from me!  I'm only kidding.  They really were a great bunch of kids, and I miss seeing them regularly on Sunday mornings.  Here's hoping they don't become strangers!
I do confirmation a little bit different here at Minden UCC.  As I talked about in my sermon I try to stress relationship and how our faith should/does have an impact on our lives.  I don't spend a lot of time drilling the kids on the order of the books of the Bible, dates, names and history facts.  I find that boring, and I know the kids would too.  Plus I always have in the back of my mind that I went through that type of confirmation where we filled in answers in a book, and it didn't help me and I went on to seminary!
I want the kids to have an experience that they can look back upon when they're young adults and starting a new life and say, "boy that Pastor Brian wasn't too weird...church wasn't a horribly boring place...maybe I should check a church out now."  I would much rather have them say that then be able to recite books of the Bible and dates and names.  Now, we do talk a lot about the Bible and faith, but I try and take the stories and relate their meaning to the kids' lives.  We open the Bible and read some verses to see how they can direct us today.  Some meetings we'll spend the whole time talking about an incident at school and how we as Christians should respond.  We most definitely laugh a lot, and I try to get the kids to see that the Bible isn't some dry book, because if you read through the Bible you'll certainly see there are some wild stories in there. 
Most importantly I want the kids to connect their faith with their lives.  The Bible verse I used for confirmation Sunday was from John 15 when Jesus is talking about the vine and the branch and how if the branch is disconnected it withers and dies.  If these kids, and us, don't connect our faith with our daily lives then it isn't relevant to us and it dries up.  I wanted them, and I want you, to know that going to church, connecting with the Spirit through daily devotions and prayer is vital to your vibrant life.  We need that connection so we can keep our faith growing and alive.  If we aren't growing and live then we are stagnant and dying.  I certainly don't want to be called stagnant.  As I try to stress with the confirmands, and I want us to see too, you need to see how your faith influences your life.  Let God into your life, try to live by God's commands, and see the blessings that flow.  We aren't going to miss all of life's bumps just because we are plugged in, but we'll certainly have more strength to get through the bumps if we are connected the life giving vine of Jesus Christ.