Jun 2007
Power in the Dark Places
06/24/07
Pentecost 4
Luke 8:26-39
Dear friends in Christ,
If you’re able to come to brunch this morning and then view the DVD we made of our trip to Tanzania, you’ll see one section where we go to the most remote place on earth I’ve ever been, the Chamsisili preaching point that is part of our partner congregation, Mtera Lutheran. I’m guessing it was 10 miles or so from Mtera Village, but it was way back in the African bush, along way off the main road. The people there live in mud huts that resemble nothing comparable to around here. There’s no electricity, no running water, no natural gas service, no septic or sewer systems, no shopping mall, nothing like that at all. This little preaching point, really just a small group of Christian believers, has no church building. They meet under a tree. They speak a tribal language, He He. Very few even know the national language of Tanzania, which is Swahili. One man had a deformity from birth, his legs being turned around at the knees and he had to use makeshift tree branches for crutches. I was introduced to the two wives of one man in the village, first time that’s ever happened to me. I think all of us in our group felt pretty out of place, at the edge of our comfort zone, in this very different setting. Read More...
Luke 8:26-39
Dear friends in Christ,
If you’re able to come to brunch this morning and then view the DVD we made of our trip to Tanzania, you’ll see one section where we go to the most remote place on earth I’ve ever been, the Chamsisili preaching point that is part of our partner congregation, Mtera Lutheran. I’m guessing it was 10 miles or so from Mtera Village, but it was way back in the African bush, along way off the main road. The people there live in mud huts that resemble nothing comparable to around here. There’s no electricity, no running water, no natural gas service, no septic or sewer systems, no shopping mall, nothing like that at all. This little preaching point, really just a small group of Christian believers, has no church building. They meet under a tree. They speak a tribal language, He He. Very few even know the national language of Tanzania, which is Swahili. One man had a deformity from birth, his legs being turned around at the knees and he had to use makeshift tree branches for crutches. I was introduced to the two wives of one man in the village, first time that’s ever happened to me. I think all of us in our group felt pretty out of place, at the edge of our comfort zone, in this very different setting. Read More...
Grief, Compassion, Life
06/10/07
Pentecost 2
1 Kings 17:17-24, Luke 7:11-17
Dear friends in Christ,
We just heard two remarkable stories in scripture that deal, in large part, with a subject we’d rather not think about, death. Who really wants to have their life interrupted today, or any day, with stories that remind us of death? Surely there must be something happier and more cheerful we could focus on.
One way we deal with things that make us uncomfortable is to joke about them. So there are plenty of jokes about funerals and the end of life. My favorite is the funeral notice for a movie theater owner. It read like this: Martin Levine, owner of a movie theater chain in New York City, has passed away at age 65. The funeral will be held on Thursday at 2:10, 4:20, 6:30, 8:40, and 10:50, bargain prices before 6:00PM Read More...
1 Kings 17:17-24, Luke 7:11-17
Dear friends in Christ,
We just heard two remarkable stories in scripture that deal, in large part, with a subject we’d rather not think about, death. Who really wants to have their life interrupted today, or any day, with stories that remind us of death? Surely there must be something happier and more cheerful we could focus on.
One way we deal with things that make us uncomfortable is to joke about them. So there are plenty of jokes about funerals and the end of life. My favorite is the funeral notice for a movie theater owner. It read like this: Martin Levine, owner of a movie theater chain in New York City, has passed away at age 65. The funeral will be held on Thursday at 2:10, 4:20, 6:30, 8:40, and 10:50, bargain prices before 6:00PM Read More...
Guidance
06/03/07
John 16 : 12-15 Trinity Sunday
Dear friends in Christ,
Author Dennis Rainey tells about an exercise he leads each year with his sixth grade Sunday School class. He divides the class into three groups. These groups then compete in putting together a jigsaw puzzle. As these 12-year-olds scatter into three circles on the floor, he explains that there is only one rule in the competition: to put together the puzzle without talking. The contents of puzzle number one are deposited on the floor and Group One immediately goes to work. The group promptly sets up the box top that depicts the picture of the puzzle it is completing. Then Rainey moves to the second group, dumps the pieces of a second puzzle on the floor and quickly gives the group a box top. What the group doesn’t know is that the box top is for another puzzle! The third group is given the same puzzle pieces, but it doesn’t receive a box top. Usually the kids in the group start to protest, but Rainey quickly reminds them there is to be no talking! Read More...
Dear friends in Christ,
Author Dennis Rainey tells about an exercise he leads each year with his sixth grade Sunday School class. He divides the class into three groups. These groups then compete in putting together a jigsaw puzzle. As these 12-year-olds scatter into three circles on the floor, he explains that there is only one rule in the competition: to put together the puzzle without talking. The contents of puzzle number one are deposited on the floor and Group One immediately goes to work. The group promptly sets up the box top that depicts the picture of the puzzle it is completing. Then Rainey moves to the second group, dumps the pieces of a second puzzle on the floor and quickly gives the group a box top. What the group doesn’t know is that the box top is for another puzzle! The third group is given the same puzzle pieces, but it doesn’t receive a box top. Usually the kids in the group start to protest, but Rainey quickly reminds them there is to be no talking! Read More...