The Well

Pastor Laura's Blog

 

In Jesus' time, the town well was the place where people gathered and shared news and ideas. It was also the place they could be refreshed. In the book of John, chapter 4, the town well was where Jesus offered his living water to the Samaritan woman. In this blog, I will offer some reflections on sermons I just preached, and some thoughts on upcoming sermons and Scripture passages. I welcome your thoughts, questions and insights in conversation with me. Your feedback will help me as I pray about what word from God I can bring to people in the sermon. Please check in weekly and send me your thoughts via email through our Contact Us form.

---

July 21, 2008

You know you've picked an intriguing passage of Scripture when two people come up to you before the service even begins and ask you how you're going to handle it. Will it be appropriate for children? How could it possibly have anything to do with us? Many folks are surprised when they first discover that the Bible contains stories like the one about Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. But I love the fact that the Bible has stories about people in all kinds of situations. Their stories reflect the lives of people today. Life is messy, and yet God is always there in the middle of the mess, bringing hope out of hopelessness. Tamar is an ancestor of Jesus, yet she was also (briefly) a prostitute. How strange that we often forget that prostitutes were a part of Jesus' family, and how sad that we don't tell them that they can be a part of his family today. I'm so grateful for Veronica's Voice and the work of Kristi Childs who tells women in prostitution that there is a way out and helps them find it.

My husband felt like there was a little bit of male-bashing in my sermon yesterday. I reminded him that even Judah declared that Tamar was more righteous than he :-) But just to set the record straight, next Sunday's story will be about a treacherous woman and a virtuous man. Joseph had every reason to give in to Potiphar's wife, yet he remained righteous and paid a big price. Come hear this story in worship next week!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 14, 2008

I returned from the mission trip on Saturday night, and I returned to the pulpit yesterday. The past week was an incredible experience living and working with the Navajo people, and we had an awesome group of people on the trip. In a future sermon, we will share more about the trip, but our thoughts yesterday were focused on the story of Jacob's vision and what happened when he found himself on holy ground (something that we experienced quite a bit on our trip). I shared that I consider the church building and property to be holy ground, not because we make it holy but because God made it holy before we even arrived. In fact, that is the reason we worship there now! There are so many things that are "wrong" about our location and building - not very close to town, too small, weird-looking building, etc. - but the minute I stepped on to the ground, I felt the Spirit's movement, and I know that God intended for something to happen in this space. Over the three years we have been there, I have witnessed God doing some real transformation in people's lives, and that has confirmed my belief that the ground itself is saturated with God's healing presence. That doesn't mean that we don't still have to do a lot of work to make worship a meaningful experience for people, but it is nice to know that God starts speaking to people's hearts before worship even begins!

Next week I'm going to tackle a strange and difficult story - Judah and Tamar in Gen. 38. I've never heard a sermon on it, but I think it's an important story for us to know. If you like learning about obscure stories in the Old Testament, join us in worship next Sunday for this one and see if God says something to you while you worship on holy ground!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 4, 2008

I'm writing this on Friday instead of my usual Monday post because I'm leaving in the morning with the mission trip team for New Mexico. We are returning to the place we went last year, Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle Community School near Bloomfield. We will spend the week with our Navajo brothers and sisters, helping with whatever projects they have for us to do. While we certainly hope to give our time, talent and energy to help others while we are there, we found last year that we received at least as much as we gave. The people who live there share their lives and their culture with us, and we are blessed by them.

While I am gone, Living Water will have a great worship service with Glenn Kelley. Glenn started a church in New Jersey to reach people who weren't being reached by other churches - he jokingly said his average participant has at least 25 piercings - and his church is growing as the word gets around that there is a place where they are welcome. I can't wait to hear all about what Glenn does at Living Water while I'm gone. It's going to be a Sunday to remember! I'll see you on July 13 when I'm back in the pulpit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

June 30, 2008

I tend to shy away from preaching about "hot button" or political subjects. OK, I admit it. Partly it's because I'm a chicken :-) But I also believe very strongly in the desire of our denomination to be common ground - where people with different political ideas and interpretations of Scripture can worship together, can be brothers and sisters united in a common belief in Jesus as Savior. The danger in not preaching about hot button issues, however, is that it gives the false impression that maybe God doesn't care about them. I must always remind myself that there were many pastors who did not speak out against American slavery in the 1800s, and other pastors in recent history in South Africa who did not speak out against apartheid, for that same reason. When a member of my congregation asked me to preach on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as a part of this summer series, I was faced with the question, "How much do I say about homosexuality?" It became even more important as the news has been filled with stories about how this issue is tearing apart another mainline denomination - the Presbyterian Church USA. I wanted to try to offer a fresh understanding of the story, acknowledge that loving Christian people don't agree on the biblical passages about homosexuality, and adamantly declare that our particular church welcomes everyone. You can listen to the sermon if you like and see if I accomplished those goals. Surely, there will be some who think I went too far, and others who think I did not go far enough, but I pray that God will smooth out whatever rough edges I left unfinished and lead us all into a deeper understanding of what it means to practice Jesus' radical hospitality.

It really is a coincidence that I'm leaving town after preaching that sermon ;-) but I will be gone on the mission trip next Sunday. Glenn Kelley will be bringing the message, and he is sure to enlighten and challenge you with his take on Scripture. I'll be back in the pulpit on July 13, preaching on the story of Jacob's Ladder. Come join us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

June 23, 2008

I have been an active church-goer my whole adult life. I have spent many years in committee meetings and board meetings, and I have seen some of the uglier side of church politics and governance. When we set up the governance policies at Living Water, we specifically tried to make everything transparent and streamlined. However, all those past years of sitting through meetings with a churning stomach made it hard for me to enjoy the annual meeting at Living Water yesterday. And yet, what happened was truly miraculous. What started out as a small group of people trying to build a church in Parkville three years ago has now become a real church with a real mission and real budget to accomplish that mission. I find myself truly in awe of what God has already done, and I am excited about where God will lead us - even if it means my stomach is still going to churn a little bit every time we have a meeting :-)

When I started this sermon series on Old Testament stories, I asked people to give me their suggestions for what stories they wanted to hear. One person asked me to preach on Sodom and Gomorrah, which I will do next Sunday. This story used to be the primary story that fundamentalist churches would use to denounce homosexuality (maybe they still do), but there is actually a lot going on in this story - and it doesn't have anything to do with sexual orientation. We'll wade through this tricky text, and see what God wants to say to us through it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

June 16, 2008

As a new church planter, sometimes we go a long time before we see any progress, any fruit from our labors. But on those days when exciting things happen, I feel ashamed that I ever doubted God. How fitting that I should preach on Abraham and his same doubts that God would be faithful to the promise. Yesterday was such an awesome day for so many reasons - it was Fathers' Day and we honored all men, my step-dad came to see me preach, we had a record attendance (for a non-Easter Sunday), and we baptized Stacey. Hearing her share about her journey and how it was the support of her small group that helped her come to the decision to be baptized was such a strong validation for the importance of community in our spiritual development. We weren't meant to try to figure things out on our own. Afterwards, I told Stacey's husband, Brad, that baptisms are my favorite thing about ministry. "What other job has perks like this?", I asked. Ministry can be tough- emotionally, physically, spiritually - but when God pulls back the curtain a little and reveals what He has been doing behind the scenes all this time, it's truly breathtaking.

 

Next week we'll continue the Abraham story and hear about the three mysterious visitors who come to see him. This series on Old Testament stories is full of drama, humor and danger. There is a place for you to come sit on God's lap and hear these stories, too. Come worship with us this Sunday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 9, 2008

I had never really considered the story of the Tower of Babel to be very theologically deep. It's a strange little story that seems on the surface to be an attempt by the ancient Hebrews to explain where different languages come from. But as I spent time with the story last week, reading commentaries and looking around on the internet, I discovered that there are all kinds of things going on in this story! God's interaction with humans is remarkable, and His solution to the problem of the tower is so creative. I had never realized before that God didn't really do anything to prevent the continued building of the tower. God just made it more difficult by requiring us to learn a new language. We were willing to do all the hard physical labor to build the tower, but we weren't willing to invest the time to learn to communicate.

Next week is Fathers' Day, and we will honor all men in worship. We will be looking at the story of the "father" of the Jewish faith - Abraham. Even though it's summer and people are traveling, we are experiencing lively worship and new visitors every week at Living Water. Come spend your summer Sundays with us as we look through the great stories of faith!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

June 2, 2008

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the only one who reads the story of Noah's Ark and has a hard time understanding how God could just decide to wipe out almost the entire human race and animal population. It seems especially unfair to the animals because it was humans who were doing all the evil things. But if we can view the story as the original audience did, a story of wickedness and corruption that had ruined the beauty God created, I think it's a little easier to see this as a story of redemption and not destruction. God wanted to cleanse the earth of the corruption, the poison, that was killing it. Unfortunately, that meant getting rid of the cause of the corruption and everything it had already corrupted. This is not a easy story for us to wrestle with. I don't think one sermon is going to answer all the questions it raises. But hopefully, anyone else who has struggled with this story has found a new way to look at it, and maybe a new appreciation for the God we find there.

Next week I'll take on the story of the Tower of Babel. It's also a humorous story, but is there some theological significance in it, too? Tune it next week and find out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

May 26, 2008

It's been a while since I've taken a sermon risk, tried something outside the box. But yesterday I thought I'd try to capture the beauty and wonder of the creation story as if God Himself was telling it in the first person. Using Eugene Peterson's paraphrase, The Message, I changed all the third person pronouns to first person. To really create the whole story-telling vibe, I read the story from a rocking chair. As with any creative idea, those kinds of things can help take people to a new place with a familiar Scripture passage, or they can just leave people scratching their heads, saying, "Huh?" There was probably some of both yesterday, but I heard from several people afterwards that it really worked for them. So maybe taking a sermon risk every once in a while isn't such a bad thing. It stretches me as a preacher, and it stretches the church as people who must actively receive the message each week and decide what God is saying to them through it.

I'm still gathering suggestions from folks about stories they would like included in the sermon series on Old Testament stories. If you are one who worships with us, in person or through our podcast, email me your idea for a story you'd like to hear. I'll do my best to include it. You can use the Contact Us form to send it to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

May 19, 2008

Yesterday I preached at Countryside Christian Church, the church my family and I attended for almost 20 years. It was nice to see some old friends, and I received lots of hugs and expressions of appreciation. But it's always difficult for me to be away from Living Water. Partly it's the new-parent syndrome - I'm afraid to leave the "baby" with a sitter for fear that something might not happen as it usually does, the way I prefer it. But babies do not need overprotective mothers, and churches do not need control-freak pastors, and the Holy Spirit works in all kinds of ways through all kinds of people. I think I needed to be at Countryside yesterday, and perhaps they needed to hear the message I brought. And several people at Living Water expressed to Bethany that they are inspired to take a step and do something new after hearing her sermon. Isn't it amazing how patient God is with us, waiting for us to get out of the way so the Spirit can do His work?

Next week we'll begin our summer series, Sitting on God's Lap, with the story of Creation in Genesis 1. I have preached Old Testament stories in the summers in previous years, and those have been some of the favorite sermons I have ever preached. We're going to imagine we are curled in God's lap, hearing those stories read to us for the first time and wondering, "What does that story mean to my life?" It's going to be a great summer!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

May 12, 2008

I had to gulp twice as I was preparing my sermon last week. Here it was, Pentecost, one of my favorite days of the whole year, and for the first time ever, I wasn't going to be preaching on Acts 2. It's not that I had exhausted the Acts 2 story - there are thousands of sermons contained in that one chapter - but I had just preached on it a few months ago during our Unbinding the Gospel series, and I realized that I had never preached about Jesus' baptism, about how the Holy Spirit can also come to us as a dove and not just as wind and fire. So I brought both stories into the sermon and talked about how the chameleon Spirit can both comfort us and empower us because we need both. I asked Jeff if I could share part of his story in my sermon because he was someone who knew he desperately needed the power of the Spirit to help him overcome his addictions. His story was so powerful because it was real and honest. When it came time for his baptism, he shared more of his story with us. He told us how he had started using drugs when he was 12 years old. Most of his life had been spent being a slave to his addictions, and he had ruined a lot of relationships along the way. He shared a conversation that he and I had had during the week:

Laura: I'm sorry your family won't be able to be there when you are baptized.

Jeff: Well, some of my relatives might not be there, but my family is there every week.

May this Living Water family continue to love and support Jeff and Rosetta and all the others God brings to us who need Jesus, need a church family and need the comfort and power of the Holy Spirit.

Next week I will be preaching at Countryside Christian Church in Mission, KS as a part of an effort to give visibility to the new church pastors in our region. While it will be good to see old friends, I will really miss being with my Living Water family. And I will especially miss hearing my daughter, Bethany, bring the message (I'll have to catch the podcast like some of you!). Bethany is a sophomore at Park University, majoring in Communications, and she plans to follow God's call into ministry by attending seminary after she graduates. She has a fresh, young perspective on the Scriptures, and I know she will bring a great message.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

May 5, 2008

It's very easy for me to tell stories about the times I mess up, the times I don't do what God asks me to do and how I wish later I would have listened to God. But yesterday I really felt like I needed to share the story of one thing I did right, and I found it very difficult to tell the story. I wanted to share about how the call to new church ministry was also a call to give up thousands of dollars in potential income. In my particular case, it was actually a call to go without a salary for two years, and even now, four years into the life of Living Water, my income is less than half of what pastors in other similar-sized churches make. But I didn't want people to think that I shared that story in order to make them feel sorry for me, or to manipulate their emotions so they would feel guilty and give more money. I wanted to share the story so that people would know that when I talk about how hard it is sometimes to follow where God leads, to give what God is asking us to give, I know exactly how much that hurts. But I have also learned that when I place myself in a position where I must totally rely on God, I move to the center of God's will for me, and my life is enriched beyond measure.

Next week is a day of big celebrations - Mothers' Day, Pentecost and Baptisms! As always, we will honor all women on Mothers' Day - not just mothers - and we will give all women a special gift. We'll talk about the Holy Spirit, and we'll share in the joy of welcoming people into the waters of baptism. Bring all the special women in your life to this great day of worship!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

April 28, 2008

I know I say it a lot, but we had an awesome day yesterday. I preached about money, which can sometimes make the pastor and the congregation nervous, but we focused on the freedom God wants us to have with our finances, the freedom to give it away to help others. After the 11:00 worship service, the youth served a delicious meal of French dip sandwiches, and all the donations they collected (over $260!) will go to help fund start-up businesses through kiva.org.

Then we had a prayer service for 7-year-old Lily and her family. Her mom Cheryl and sister Sydney were there to pray with us. We tried a unique kind of prayer called enacted prayer as part of the service. In enacted prayer, people act out (like mime) what it would look like if our prayer was answered. In Lily's case, her mom said she will know when Lily is healed when she sings in the back seat of the car and rides her bike and smiles again. So we had someone be Lily in the prayer, feeling sick and sad in the beginning but getting stronger and healthier and happier until she was riding her bike and smiling at everyone. We also had people portray the rest of the family - mom, dad and sister - doing their daily routines, caring for Lily and taking care of the family. We also had someone represent the medical people who work with Lily. Then we had three people portray God as the Trinity, moving around all of them, comforting them, healing Lily. An enacted prayer isn't rehearsed, so you never know what will happen. I was very hesitant to even suggest this kind of prayer because the potential for it to become comic is very great. But we gave it over to the Holy Spirit, and what happened was beautiful. We saw "Lily" move from being sick and sad to being able to eat and drink and ride her bike and smile. Everything we want for her was shown to us in that prayer. We also saw God at work in the lives of her family, caring for them and holding them up. It was a holy moment. When that prayer was finished, we laid hands on Cheryl and Sydney and offered prayers for all of them. It is such an honor and privilege to pray with people as a church family. What a glorious day! (If you would like to see an example of enacted prayer, you can watch one here, prayed by Jeff Barker - the man who created it - and his drama students at Northwestern College.)

Next week I will again preach about money, but in this sermon I will also lay out where God is leading us as a church and what kinds of resources - both financial and other kinds of gifts - can get us there. I always become very passionate when I talk about Living Water and what is ahead for us. God only shows me little glimpses at a time, but what I have seen is breathtaking! There's a place for you to be a part of it, too. Come to worship this Sunday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

April 21, 2008

God never ceases to amaze me. This sermon series based on children's letters to God was just supposed to be something kind of lighthearted and fun. The letters themselves are funny, and I thought I could use them to fill up some Sundays between Easter and Pentecost. But God had bigger plans. As I began working on the sermons, I realized that I was tackling some of the biggest questions people can ask - questions that can draw us closer to God or move us farther away depending on the answers we get. So this little "lighthearted" series suddenly became about some very serious topics - death, the Bible, unanswered prayers. And then yesterday I preached what I thought was going to be the easiest sermon in the series - How Can God Love Everybody? I mean, how easy should it be for a pastor to preach about God's love?!?! Yet I wrestled with this sermon more than any of the others. When I stood up to preach yesterday, I wasn't sure that I had even two cohesive thoughts in my sermon. But God had something to say, and when the services were over, more people told me they heard God speak to them in that sermon than any I've preached in a long time. The simplest sermon - one about how God loves each one of us - had the most profound effect on a room full of people who were hungry to hear that God REALLY does love us, all of us. And adding the song Never Been Unloved was one of those Saturday night inspirations that brought it all together. I thank God for working through clueless pastors to change hearts and lives!

Next week I'm going to preach my first-ever mini-series on God and money. This is a topic I have neglected in the past, but I am more convinced than ever that God has a lot to say to us about what we do with our money. It's not about producing shame and guilt about what we haven't done, it's about finding freedom. If you want to know why God cares about your money, join us this week in worship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

April 14, 2008

"Why didn't God answer my prayer?" It's one of the most difficult questions we face. The stakes are extremely high - if we can't give a satisfactory answer, then it's possible that the person asking the question will walk away from God. But it's not an easy question to answer. No matter how much I search the Scriptures and live through my own prayer experiences, I can't come up with a quick and easy answer to that question. This is one of the big areas of mystery that is part of the nature of God. We can't really penetrate the mind of God to know exactly why God heals, protects and saves sometimes and not others. But if we continue to leave ourselves open to God, if we continue to pray - even in our hurt and disappointment and anger over what feels like God's silence - then we will eventually realize that God has been with us the whole time, weeping with us and holding us close. Unfortunately, many people don't stick around long enough to recognize God's presence in their pain.

Next week we'll ask the question, "How can God love everybody, even the bad people?" We will discover that loving the unlovable is really hard, and trying to explain it is even harder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

April 6, 2008

How do you try to answer every troubling question about the Bible in a 20-minute sermon? Very carefully. It's really not possible to address all the concerns in one sermon - that's why I've preached whole series on this topic (see the worship archive page under April 23, 2006)- but it was worth spending a week reviewing what Scripture is and why it's important. There are so many misconceptions about the Bible that can lead us down dead-end roads. I wanted to find a way to stand firmly in the belief that Scripture is God-breathed and life-giving, without also insisting that it is 100% historically correct. That can be a slippery slope. But if we see that the Biblical authors weren't trying to nail down every tiny detail as truth (small "t") because they were pointing to the bigger Truth (capital "T"), we can stop trying to reconcile small details that don't matter, and listen to hear God still speaking to us from its pages.

Next week we'll tackle another troubling topic - why doesn't God answer our prayers? If you've ever asked God for something and been disappointed, this sermon is for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

March 31, 2008

The week after Easter is always a little nerve-wracking. You've just been through an incredible Easter worship service with lots of visitors, and in our case, baptisms. You're encouraged by the all the new faces, and you pray that some of them will come back the following week. But for most pastors, the week after Easter brings worship attendance that is back to normal or even slightly lower than normal. I've heard of some pastors who try to counteract this by chastising all their Easter worshipers who don't come the rest of the year. Guess what? That doesn't really motivate anyone to come back the next week! For us, yesterday was extra nerve-wracking because it was the first non-Easter Sunday with two morning worship services. So we took a Sunday that's usually a lower attendance day, and we split the congregation in two. Where there used to be a last minute scramble to find a place for everyone to sit, now there are lots of empty spaces. For some who have only known us in our recent more-crowded times, the room felt kind of sparse and lonely.

But I reminded everyone that when we launched in Parkville three years ago, we had only 15 people, and none of them lived anywhere near Parkville, or even lived in Missouri. Yet, God faithfully brought people to make Living Water their church, and now we have outgrown our space when we all worship together. Even though it was a little unusual to have the room half-full for both services, it reminded us of the reason we made the decision to add a second service in the first place - to make room for more people. We have done that. We have made lots of room for more people to come and experience the presence of God at Living Water. And just as God multiplied us from 15 to 50, we trust that God will continue to bring new faces, new lives, into our community. Now we have room for them!

I tried to answer the difficult question of death yesterday, and next week, I'll try to answer the equally difficult question - Is the Bible true? Bring your questions and join us in worship next Sunday. We have room for you at both services :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

March 24, 2008

All last week, I prayed, "Don't let me miss it, God." There are so many details involved in pulling off an Easter worship service - especially when we added a brunch and a second service on to the day. There was cleaning and decorating and planning and setting up the baptistry and scheduling rehearsals to consume my time and energy. And I knew that, despite all my planning, some things were not going to go as smoothly as I had hoped. It would have been so easy for me to lose my focus, to concentrate on all the little details that weren't perfect. But if I had done that, I would have missed it. I would have missed the joy of Easter, of Resurrection. I would have missed the excitement of our biggest worship attendance ever. I would have missed the new faces that were present in our services. And I would have missed the greatest part of the morning - hearing the stories from the three people we baptized. But God answered my prayer, and helped me be present in that holy moment. Even though the baptistry water was chilly, I didn't feel a thing as I witnessed three lives sharing with the gathered community how Jesus Christ had taken away their emptiness and given them joy. All three became tearful, as did most of us listening to them, and I was filled with awe that God would have called me to give my life in ministry for this reason. I heard God whisper to me, "This is why, Laura." It was a day I will never forget.

My prayer is that some of those new faces who worshipped with us yesterday, and some others we haven't met yet, will come next week as we begin a new series based on letters that children wrote to God. Children have a way of cutting right to the heart of the matter, and we will tackle the issues of death, the Bible, prayer and God - seeking answers that even children can understand. If you do not have a church home, please come be a part of what God is doing at Living Water!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

March 17, 2008

Yesterday was an emotional roller-coaster for me. I loved watching the kids parade around the room with palm branches while we sang "Hosanna." I loved listening to our musicians lead us in worship through song. I loved hearing the song "Jeremiah", and all the memories it brought back of my ordination service. But that's when I also started to feel tremendous sadness. Yesterday was the last day that Rhonda Frisbie will be a part of our band. She and her husband made the difficult decision to attend a church closer to their home where she also plays music for worship. Rhonda has been a part of Living Water, and therefore a huge part of my life, since Day 1 of this crazy adventure we call New Church. She has amazing talents, but more importantly, she understands how music can lead people into a deeper worship experience. She was always game to take on any challenge I threw at her, and the people of Living Water have been blessed over and over by the sharing of her gifts. We still have incredibly talented musicians in our band, and our music will continue to draw people closer to God, but we will truly miss Rhonda. After worship, we had a reception for her, and it was all I could do to keep from crying.

But now all my attention turns to what lies ahead this week. You might expect that I'm running full-steam ahead toward Easter, and that's partially true, but first I am focusing on the Good Friday service. I know it sounds weird, but the Good Friday service is one of my favorites of the whole year. It is very "moody" - with drawn curtains, low light, candles, somber music and video reflections of the last words Jesus spoke from the cross. We don't usually spend much time thinking about Jesus on the cross, but on this one day, it is crucial for us to remember the depths of his love for us and what it cost him. This year, I am especially excited because we have two poets in our church who have written poems especially for this service.

Then we're on to Easter! I am so excited about everything that will happen on Easter - we'll start with a brunch at 8:30, then our first service at 9:30. Immediately after the service, we'll have three baptisms - one of the most thrilling things I get to do as a pastor. Then, as I change into dry clothes, the band will start the second service at 11:00. The services will have incredible music, videos, a powerful message and all kinds of butterflies - made by people in the church. If you live in the Kansas City area and do not have a church home, please come spend Easter with us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

March 10, 2008

I love the image of tearing a hole in the roof so a friend can meet Jesus (Mark 2:1-12). When a church does this - metaphorically speaking - and focuses attention on the needs of people over property or comfort, then hurting people are going to know that they have found a church that cares about them. The ministry of hospitality is one that everyone can practice. It can be a simple smile or handshake, showing a visitor where the restrooms are or brewing another pot of coffee when we run out. If visitors have a sense that they are wanted, and are even expected, they get a better picture of a God who would run down a dusty path to greet them.

Next week is Palm Sunday. We will open the service by waving palm branches and singing "Hosanna!" Then our musicians will share the Gospel message in song. The service will be mainly music. While some pastors might be a little concerned that the worship service would turn into a "performance", I know that our musicians are worshipping as they sing, and many people have heard God speaking through the music at Living Water. In past years, the Palm Sunday service has been one of the most powerful ones of the Easter season. Come experience the love of God proclaimed to us in music!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

March 2, 2008

You could hear an audible gasp in the room when I revealed the percentage of mainline churches that had baptized even five adults a year for three years. People in the congregation guessed 10%, 20%, even 30%. Of the 30,000 churches that Gay Reese studied as part of her mainline evangelism project, less than 1/2 of 1% had baptized 15 adults in three years. Some of these churches have hundreds of members, yet they failed to share the good news with even one person who experienced new life in Jesus Christ through baptism. For those of us in mainline denominations, these statistics make us more than a little nauseous. Fortunately, Gay spent the rest of her time interviewing the 150 churches that were reaching people. She found out that those folks invested themselves in their relationship with God, with other people in the church, and with people outside the church. Surprisingly, for many of us, we struggle most with relationships with people inside the church. I asked yesterday "If you had an urgent prayer need, is there someone in this church - other than a family member - that you could call and ask to pray for you?" I could tell people were really thinking about that one. Then I made it harder by saying, "Is there someone other than me, the pastor, you could call?" I assured them that I am always ready to pray with anyone who has a need, but there should be someone else in the church they could call, too. If they haven't taken the time to know anyone else in the church well enough to request prayers, then they need to get into a small group. That's where real life is shared. That's the way Jesus modeled it.

Next week we'll discover how hospitality is really just an extension of evangelism. Can a cup of coffee really change someone's life?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

February 25, 2008

I always enjoy preaching about the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. It is the longest conversation Jesus has in any of the Gospels, and it tells us so much about who he is and how he interacted with people. Long before we had our first worship service, I knew that the name of our new church would be Living Water, because this story is Jesus' way of modeling how we should interact with others, too. He reaches across barriers to talk to someone who was hurting. He does not judge her or condemn her behavior, he simply starts a conversation with her, offering her a new life and a new identity. What a perfect place for us to learn how to do evangelism! We pray that God will open doors for us to have catalytic conversations, too.

 

Our congregation continues to pray for 7-year-old Lily Clevenger and her family as they go through the pain of cancer treatments. We ask everyone who is reading this to join us in praying for this hurting family. You can read updates about Lily here.

 

 

Next week we'll learn about three very important relationships that all of us need to have in order to be effective evangelists. We'll do a self-diagnostic test and see where we are in these three relationships.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

February 18, 2008

Question: How does a church with a policy of never canceling service end up canceling its service and then having it anyway?  It's a long story...   As a general rule, we never cancel church due to weather because I will always make the effort to be there just in case someone else makes the effort to be there.  That was the case yesterday when I left the house in the middle of a snowstorm.  But the roads had not been plowed well, and the road on which the church building is located was in terrible shape. But worst of all, the church driveway and parking lot had not been plowed.  When we tried to get up the driveway, our car started sliding down the hill.  I quickly realized that it was not going to be safe for people to try to get to church.  But by this time it was 10:15, and it took us a few minutes to get the computer going so we could post the cancellation on the website.  We were able to reach the musicians by cell phone en route and told them to go back home, then Clif and I prepared to record my sermon so we could post it on the website.  It was a sad and lonely morning at Living Water with just me and Clif. 

Then, just before 11:00, two cars slipped and slid up our driveway.  It was a family from the church - two parents, four kids and two grandparents.  They came inside and told us that it was one of the girls' birthday, and she had asked her grandparents to come to church with them for her birthday.  Suddenly, we were going to have a church service!  I handed each of the girls a rhythm instrument and we sang Uyaimose to call everyone to worship.  We prayed, watched a video, listened to the sermon, and shared communion.  I asked the birthday girl to help me serve communion, and we said the words of institution together.  God took the disappointment of the morning and turned it into something fun and special.  What a wonderful surprise!  I told the birthday girl that she was the only person I knew of who had a worship service birthday party.  How cool is that?!

Next week we'll look at how we can have catalytic conversations as we continue our journey to Unbind the Gospel. If you live in the KC area and don't have a church home, please come worship at Living Water!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

February 11, 2008

Worship yesterday was amazing. In the one hour we spent together, we went through the highs of singing energetic and fun praise songs, to the intensity of listening to a man share about his own faith journey from troubled youth to street evangelist. We welcomed visitors and made new friends, and we prayed together for one of our own, Lily, who is seven years old and has cancer. It is rare for one service to take us through all the emotional peaks and valleys like that. But it occurred to me that God is in all of those places. He is there in the moments of pure joy and praise. He is there in the stories that move us and make us look at our own lives. He is there in the fellowship and welcome we extend to the stranger. And He is there when we receive the most frightening news we will ever receive. God is present in all those moments, and as a church family, we can be there with each other in all those moments, too. Please join us in praying for Lily's complete healing.

Next week we'll look at the deep connection between prayer and evangelism. If we're doing them right, we can't have one without the other. I can't wait to see what happens next week. Come be a part of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

February 4, 2008

It was rather embarrassing to admit in my sermon that I actually wrote letters to my mom when I was a new Christian (age 13) where I begged her to come to Christ so that she would not burn in hell. I can't imagine saying things like that to anyone now, but at the time, I was deeply worried about her immortal soul. It was also embarrassing to admit that when I discovered I do not have the spiritual gift of evangelism, that I thought that meant I didn't have to do it at all. For too long, those of us in mainline churches have wrestled with the "E" word and what to do with it. We know we don't want to talk to people about hell, but we can't find any good openers for spiritual conversations with people besides, "Are you saved?" That's why this series based on the book Unbinding the Gospel is so important for us. I expect each of us to grow in some incredible ways during this series.

Next week we'll look at the Paul Problem. Sure, it was easy for Paul to give his before-and-after story. Who wouldn't be spellbound with the story of the transformation of a former enemy of Christians into their greatest champion? But what about the rest of us? What difference has Jesus made in our lives? We'll take on the Paul Problem next Sunday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

January 28, 2008

It's hard to believe that I was in Cape Town just a week ago. (You can read my blog about the trip here.) I have been back since Tuesday, and I am settling back in to my normal routine. But the memories of what we experienced in Africa will stay with me for a very long time. Sharing some of those memories in my sermon yesterday was a huge task. First I had to severely limit what I could say because of time constraints. And then when I did know what I wanted to say, Clif and I had to sift through almost 1,000 photographs from the trip to find the 40 or so I showed for the sermon. But I hope that people got a sense of what happened on the trip and how God brought us into contact with some amazing people doing some amazing ministry. I also hope that people didn't walk away yesterday thinking, "Wow, it's neat that a pastor can go on a trip like that." My prayer is that people walked away thinking, "I wonder if God will lead me on a trip like that someday." There are so many places God would like to take us and show us, if we will only allow ourselves to be open to the possibility.

Next week we begin our series based on the book Unbinding the Gospel. This book was written by a friend of mine, Gay Reese, and when I first read it, I kept thinking to myself, "Yes, she nailed it! This is exactly what I needed to hear!" Apparently others who read it thought the same thing because the book has only been out for a year and is already in its fifth printing. This is evidence to me that people are being awakened to a new vitality in their faith through this book, and I can't wait to see what will happen in our congregation when we begin to Unbind the Gospel!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 12, 2008,

I write this in between packing my suitcase and my carry-on bag. We leave for Cape Town in the morning. I'm excited and restless and unsure of what awaits us, but I expect it will be pretty amazing. Instead of posting here as I usually do each week, I have actually created a REAL blog (since my friends insist that a real blog has opportunities for people to post a comment). To read about our adventures, and see some photos of things we're seeing, you can check out my blog, Sitting by the Well, here. I'll be back here posting on my "non-blog" when I get back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 7, 2008

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the winter blahs that I preached on yesterday. I had always thought of it as a worthless time, a season of waiting for better things to come around. It was so refreshing to read Gary Straub's reflection on the winter work of God, and think about the fallow time as a time when deep things can happen under the surface. I especially loved his line that winter is time to "allow body and soul to catch up and get re-acquainted." How fragmented our lives become during the hectic holiday season, and how desperately we need time for our body and soul to catch up and get re-acquainted. May your winter blahs turn into winter work, preparing you for the fruitful spring just around the corner.

Next Sunday I leave for South Africa (see entry for Jan. 1). I am full of excitement and anticipation, as well as some nervousness about what I will experience there. Whenever we travel, we are forced to hand over some of our control to others - to the airlines and their pilots, to the cab drivers, to the owners of our place of lodging. Giving up that much control is often scary. But I find that when I am forced to give up that much control, it's easy for me to go one more step and give up control of my expectations and desires so that God can show me new things I might otherwise miss. I know that there will be many holy moments on this trip when God will help me understand the evil of apartheid, the grace of reconciliation, and the hope for an end to the AIDS epidemic. I welcome your prayers for me and my husband Clif as we travel to the other side of the world and experience whatever God has in store for us there. I hope to be able to blog about the trip, and I will post a link from our homepage if we can find a way to make that work. While I am gone for two Sundays, Living Water will be blessed with two very good preachers - my friends Jeff Hon and Roxanne Grant-Atkinson from New Song church.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 1, 2008

So much changes with the start of a new year - new calendars, new resolutions, new date to write on our checks. But there is also much that remains the same. The faithfulness of God is constant through whatever other changes may happen in our lives. As we move into the unknown of 2008, may we trust that, whatever may come our way in this new year, our God will be right there with us through all of it.

I will begin this new year by going on a big adventure. In two weeks, my husband and I will go to Cape Town, South Africa with a group from my former seminary. I had not intended to visit Africa, we had not budgeted for it, and frankly, there were other tourist destinations we had in mind for our next excursion together. But God has been moving my heart toward the people of Africa for quite some time, and when I saw the email from Saint Paul School of Theology that a group was going and that alumni were invited, God nudged me to consider this trip. One thing led to another, and now we are leaving for a trip that will open our eyes and change our lives. I'm not sure what God will show us when we're there, but I know it will affect my thinking, my preaching and my ministry. May you follow to the new places where God is leading you, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

December 24, 2007

Today is Christmas Eve. I am excited about the service we will have tonight - the candles and music and the Christmas story told once again. Every Christmas Eve feels like a new beginning, a time when God breaks into our lives, into our world, and hope is renewed. It's easy to get cynical and think, "Yeah, people will get a warm, fuzzy feeling tonight surrounded by candlelight, but nothing will really change." It's true that whatever goodness and kindness people display at Christmastime usually disappears by the time the tree is taken down. But each Christmas, I have hope that something will change, just a little bit, from what it was before. I have hope that relationships in peril will find a renewed commitment to work things out. I have hope that the addicts who have tried many times in the past to conquer their addictions will finally break free from their chains. I have hope that those who are discouraged, lonely, heartbroken will experience the love of God in a way that will change their lives forever. I have hope that the baby in the manger will bring his peace into our violence. So tonight I have hope that someone will experience something in our service that will make a difference.

Next Sunday we will finish our series on angels by looking at the story of the angel warning Joseph to take his family to Egypt. It will be a final time to take in the whole story of Christmas and to see how God orchestrated all of it for our benefit. May your Christmas be filled with the presence of our loving God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

December 17, 2007

The music we listen to makes the soundtrack for our lives. We never forget the song that was playing when we first fell in love or when we received terrible news. Our Christmas memories are connected to the songs of the season, too. Some of them are happy memories involving school productions and elf costumes or hot chocolate and warm laps. Some of them are bittersweet memories of our first Christmas without a loved one. The music of Christmas helps point me to the manger whenever the craziness of the season threatens to overwhelm me. That's why we try to have one Sunday during Advent where we let music bring the message of Christ's birth to us. Yesterday was a great day to hear and remember the celebration - "Rejoice! Emmanuel has come!" - and to hear Mary's prayer for strength - "Breath of Heaven, hold me together." Christmas music can help us find our center and remember that God is with us.

Christmas Eve is a week away! It's my favorite night of the year. There will be music and video and candles, and of course, the Christmas Story. If you live in the Kansas City area and don't have a church home, please come worship with us this Christmas Eve at 5 pm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

December 10, 2007

There's nothing a pastor hates more than hearing that an ice storm is moving into town on Saturday night, especially in December. Many pastors made the painful decision to cancel yesterday's services so that people wouldn't try to travel on slick streets. I was worried, too, worried that people might get hurt if they tried to come to church and worried that no one would try to come out even if we did have our service. But as I was working on my sermon this week, I had a strong sense that God wanted to speak to someone, maybe more than one person, through my words about Joseph and his difficult decision. I'm not claiming that I have a direct line to God and simply take dictation for my sermons. But there are times when I find myself writing a sermon, and I sense that God intends for someone in particular to hear those words. I usually never know who the words are meant for, but sometimes people will express appreciation for a sermon or say, "It felt like you were speaking directly to me." Ice storm or no ice storm, I was determined to preach those words. So we had church, and a bunch of people came out, and maybe a few more will listen online. Whoever those words were intended for, I pray you will be blessed by them.

Next week is music Sunday, the day in December when we tell the Christmas story primarily through music. I will also do a brief reflection on the angel's visit to Mary. Our Christmas choir will sing, and after worship we'll have a potluck dinner and a silly gift exchange. We would love to have you visit us next Sunday and stay for the meal and the party!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

December 3, 2007

Advent is a tricky time of year for pastors. How can we compete with the sights, smells and sounds of Christmas that are everywhere we look? How can we encourage people to slow down and turn off the Christmas noise long enough to hear the crying of a newborn in a manger? To further complicate things, Advent is the busiest time of the year for pastors too - extra events and services to plan and prepare for. Many of us aren't any better than the people in our churches at taking time to center ourselves in the wonder of Christ's birth. One of the ways I am encouraging all of us to prepare our hearts is to do a daily Advent devotional. I will be doing an online one at www.followingthestar.org. I hope all who read this will also find time each day to spend with God in anticipation of the birth of Christ.

 

We begin our Advent series "Angels We Have Heard" with the story of Zechariah and the angel. Next week we'll look at Joseph's encounter with an angel and see if we can learn more about these mysterious and powerful creatures. If you live in the Kansas City area and do not have a church home, please come celebrate the birth of Christ at Living Water Christian Church. We would love to gather around the manger with you.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

November 26, 2007

I always get a little nervous when I try an "open mic" service like we did yesterday. The thoughts that run through my mind are typical - "What if no one shares? Will I look like an idiot? What will we do to fill the time?" And there were a few moments after I turned over the sharing time when the stretch of silence seemed very uncomfortable. But, sure enough, the Spirit nudged a few folks to come up and share and then nudged a few more. By the end, we had all feasted on the thanks we gave to God, and we had heard some words of deep gratitude for the ways God had delivered us from ourselves. What a blessing to be able to share in a special service like that!

Next week we begin our Advent series, "Angels We Have Heard." I have never really spent much time thinking about the angels in the Christmas story, so I'm looking forward to digging into my commentaries and seeing what I find. If you'd like to prepare your heart for the birth of Jesus by listening to the angels, then come listen in next Sunday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

November 19, 2007

Yesterday was a marathon day - exhausting and exhilarating. Worship in the morning was a great mix of familiar Thanksgiving hymns and new praise music. The highlight of the day, however, was the baptism we celebrated at the end of the service. It is the most awesome thing a pastor can do - be present with someone who is taking the "plunge". My own baptism was one of the greatest days of my life. I am so honored whenever I have the opportunity to share that moment with someone else who is ready to walk in newness of life with Jesus Christ. In the evening, we participated in a community Thanksgiving service at Pine Ridge Presbyterian. Our band joined with the band at Pine Ridge and played some awesome music (you can listen to You Are Good.) I was asked to bring the message, and I was excited and queasy as I walked up to the pulpit. But I felt that God had given me something to share, and several people told me afterwards that the message had been meaningful to them. If you would like to hear that message, A Loser's Thanksgiving, you can find it on our worship archive page.

Next week we will do something we did last year - give people a chance to share their own stories of thankfulness. God is at work in all of our lives, in big ways and small ways. How incredible it is to gather with brothers and sisters and celebrate together how gracious our God is!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

November 12, 2007

I sometimes hear some of my women friends bemoan the fact that the Bible was written by men about men. They say that women are pushed to the side in Scripture, simply treated as somebody's wife. There is no question that the Bible was written during a very different time when women were seen as possessions, good for bearing children and keeping a home, but little else. However, I think it is amazing that, given all that, we find the story of Deborah included in Scripture at all. Here is a strong, courageous woman, leading Israel during a difficult and scary time in their history. Yes, she is married, but we don't know anything about her husband other than his name. Deborah is the star of this story. But she is not the only strong woman. We also have Jael, the woman who single-handedly did what no one else had been able to do for 20 years - get rid of Sisera, the man who had been oppressing and killing the Israelites. God has been calling women into leadership for thousands of years, and the proof is right there in the pages of the Bible.

Next Sunday is our Thanksgiving celebration. We'll sing some familiar hymns and have a beautiful cornucopia display. What a perfect way to prepare ourselves for the national day of thanks! The service will conclude with a wonderful expression of thankfulness - a baptism. Come be a part of this special day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

November 5, 2007

I had never really thought of the story of Daniel in the lions' den as a comedy. But as I read the story again last week, I was struck by how silly it was that Daniel is the one facing death - yet all we read about is how upset and anxious the king is! In fact, my husband said that the story isn't really about Daniel or the lions at all. It is the story of a fretful king. When we find ourselves in those dark and dangerous places, do we act more like Daniel or like the king? Daniel knew he wasn't alone, and because of that, it's likely that he got a good night's sleep. The king, the one with all the wealth and power, couldn't find any peace at all and spent the night pacing the room. How many nights have I spent like the king instead of like Daniel?

Next week we'll wrap up our series on Old Testament heroes by looking at Deborah and Jael. I sometimes hear people complain that the Bible doesn't have any strong women in it. They must not have read Judges 4! We'll see what these strong women can teach us about wisdom and courage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

October 29, 2007

The book of Esther doesn't seem to be a story that was written thousands of years ago. It is still as captivating and humorous now as it must have been to its original audience. For me, it is a great example of how people of faith have found ways to celebrate and laugh, even in the face of despair. It's also a great reminder that each one of has a sense of destiny and purpose in our lives. We may not be royalty like Esther, but we have something to contribute. For each of us, God has brought us to the place we are "for such a time as this." May we each find the courage of Esther to speak to the kings of this world!

Next week is the story of Daniel in the lions' den. It's another story that has some elements of humor in it. Can God really close the mouths of hungry lions? Can God really deliver us from frightening places? Come find out next Sunday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

October 22, 2007

There are a lot of things about my seminary experience that I have forgotten. I can't recall every lecture or chapel service I attended during my four years at Saint Paul School of Theology. But I distinctly remember the Intro to Ministry class my first week when the professor had us bend a cup and do a 20-minute reflection on it. (You can hear about this experience in my sermon.) At first, it seemed like a silly exercise - not at all the kind of thing I thought would happen in a seminary class. But as I began to see myself in the bent cup, and then thought of all the other broken people God has been able to us - especially Moses - I realized that my brokenness did not disqualify me for ministry. In fact, broken people can be some of the best pastors. I hope others who heard the sermon realized that they too can be used by God in powerful ways, no matter what their flaws are.

Next week we'll look at one of my favorite books of the Old Testament - Esther. There is no modern novel that can compete with the sex, lies, intrigue and danger we find in this ancient story. And what a hero Esther is! I only wish I had time to tell the whole story - plot twists and all - in worship. I'll have to come up with a Reader's Digest version and hope that everyone takes the time to read the whole thing on their own. Come hear this great story with us next Sunday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

October 15, 2007

Yesterday was exhausting and exhilarating. We are an unusual new church in that we've always had a church building available for us to have our worship service. Most new churches must meet in schools and movie theaters for years before they finally have a building. That means that every week a whole crew of people help turn a school gymnasium into a worship space. Yesterday, when we moved our worship service to the Parkville Athletic Complex, we had a taste of what other new churches do every week. We had a crew show up at 8:00 am in order to pack and move everything and get it set up for the 11:00 am service. And then that same crew moved everything back when it was over. Then we all collapsed in a heap! But there is something exciting about moving worship to a new place, a different place, and finding that God is already there waiting for you. Next week we will have some conversation and prayer after worship to discern what God has in store for us.

I'll be preaching on Moses next week. He is another one of the complicated heroes we find in the Old Testament. We'll also have our first baby blessing service. What a wonderful way to welcome a new life into a church family!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

October 8, 2007

Something really amazing happened yesterday. Instead of having people come forward for communion, we set up communion at the tables and asked people to gather round a table so they could pass the bread and cup to one another. Then we gave each table an information sheet about a ministry that takes place in some other part of the world. Each table was to read about and pray for that ministry, and then share a prayer concern of their own that they would like the rest of the table to pray about during the week. I expected that the groups would be done with this in less than 5 minutes, and since it was the last part of the service (and the Chiefs game started at noon), I thought they would trickle out of the room after 5 minutes. But the groups were having good conversation, and no one seemed to be in much of a hurry to leave. I was reminded how powerful it is to gather around a table with our brothers and sisters and share life with them. That's what Worldwide Communion Sunday is all about - remembering all those who are gathered around the table with us - near and far.

Next week is going to be really fun as we take our worship on the road to the PAC - the Parkville Athletic Complex at 6014 N. 9 HWY. There will be a lot of work involved to move our instruments, sound system, projector, and other worship supplies to a new location - not to mention the drinks and bagels! But there's something exciting about going to a new place and seeing if some folks might come worship with us in this different location - folks who haven't worshipped with us before. If you've ever thought about seeing what Living Water Christian Church is all about, this is the perfect week for you to come check us out! Arrive a few minutes early so you can choose some munchies and a drink. We hope to see you there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

October 1, 2007

We wrapped up our series on Love, Marriage and Sex by hearing some reflections from a woman in our church who has been married more than 50 years. One of her most interesting insights is that people, especially couples, don't seem to talk much anymore. She noted that there are so many things that compete for our time and attention now - TV, internet, videos, etc. - that we seem to have lost the art of listening, of conversation. That is certainly true in my house. I notice this whenever I go away on spiritual retreats like I did last week. The room where I stayed had no TV, radio, computer or anything to distract me. There were moments when I was desperate for something, anything, to make some kind of background noise. I wanted to unwind each night with mindless television. Instead, I was left in a quiet room with a listening God, and I re-learned the art of listening to Him, too.

 

Next week is Worldwide Communion Sunday. I love to make a big deal about this day. We use fabrics from around the world to decorate. We use different kinds of breads for communion. And we sing songs from other countries in our worship. The songs are lively, even if some of the words are a little tricky to learn at first. But my favorite part of the day is remembering how many people are gathered at the table with us - people who look, think and speak very differently from us. The Kingdom of God is more beautiful than we can possibly imagine, full of the faces of people who share a love for Jesus. Gather at the table with us next Sunday!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

September 24, 2007

It had never occurred to me before that in 2 Sam 11:1-5, when David is home in Jerusalem instead of off fighting with the other men, that he is basically staying in town with a bunch of lonely women. How convenient for him to send the other men off to war and then just stay back and choose one of their wives to keep him company when he gets bored. The fact that he had many of his own wives and concubines to choose from doesn't make his situation look any better. I love the fact that the Bible gives us the stories of these people with all their faults and flaws. In David's case, that includes even the murder of Uriah to cover David's own sin. It is a story of a good person who does some very bad things. The consequences are terrible, too. But God's grace is greater even than David's sin. My hope is that we can learn from David's mistake before we find ourselves beginning to head down the same path he did.

Next week we'll wrap up our Love, Marriage and Sex series by learning how to make our love relationships last a lifetime. How do we become one of those cute older couples who hold hands as they walk down the street? Can God really help our love for our spouse grow over the years? We'll even hear some good advice from people who have been married over 50 years. Don't miss it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

September 17, 2007

Now I know why so few preachers give sermons on sex. It is really tough! We deal with people all the time who are in sexual relationships outside of marriage, and we don't want to come across as prudish, judgmental and completely out-of-touch with what's really happening in the world. So usually we just keep our mouths shut. But this week I really felt that I needed to preach at least one sermon that articulated why God asks us to refrain from sex outside of marriage. It is not so we will be "good" people. It is so we will have great lives. God only asks us to do what is in our best interest. Although I wondered whether anyone would listen or care, I also realized that if even one person listening chose to wait for sex until marriage, it would be one of the greatest gifts they would ever give to themselves. I have counseled many people who live with regrets and heartache over sexual relationships gone bad. God doesn't want to see us suffer like that, and, as a parent of two teenagers, I don't want to see either of my children suffer like that, either.

Next week I'll tackle the other sex issue - adultery. Is is really possible to "affair-proof" our marriages? Is it possible for a marriage to survive after an affair? These are the questions we'll look at next week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

September 10, 2007

I have been a little uncomfortable with this series on "Love, Marriage and Sex" since we started it a few weeks ago. Part of my discomfort is because I feel like this series is mainly targeted to married people, although I have tried to include advice on dating relationships, too. I have wondered if single folks are feeling ignored or, as my 19-year-old daughter put it, "The series is interesting, but it doesn't really apply to me." The thing is, though, that the single people are listening in on what God really wants for them in their relationships. The hope is that, as they date, they will have healthy relationships from the beginning and avoid all the pitfalls and bad habits that some marriages fall into. And next week's sermon on God's Plan for Sexual Intimacy is going to be mainly for the single people.

Which leads me to another reason why I am a little uncomfortable with this series. I'm not really one who enjoys standing up in front of people and talking about sex. If I had my way, I'd do what my health class teachers did on "sex day" and just show a film. But God has called me to be a pastor, and people need to know why God created sex and what God's purposes are for sex. So, I'll pray a lot this week, take a deep breath, and plunge into the topic of sex next Sunday. Whether you're single or married, you don't want to miss this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~</