Bringing Up Servant Leaders

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it."

                                                    Prov 22:6

This past Sunday, our children led a traditional liturgical worship service at Zion. As they stood in line to process into the sanctuary, I counted. I counted seventeen young people from preschool through High School who would in some way participate in leading the Advent Worship. This may not seem like a large number to many of you reading this. However, given the size of the community around us this is a huge number. The population is right around 200 in Skanee. Our public K-6 school has less than ten youth enrolled. The truth is that most of these young people come from elsewhere in the county.

We do have a couple of very shy students who will acolyte or receive the offering; but, most of our young people are willing to sing in the choir, to read, to pray, even to preach publically. For many years, we have been busy training not just adults; but, our children, as well, to lead worship; to proclaim the Good News in word and song. I have led very few mid-week Advent or Lent services since I was called to serve here as I understand a large part of my call to train others to be servant leaders. I do design the services; but, I do not lead them. We use these mid-week services to help others in the congregation to confidently lead this congregation or other congregations. One of our members presently serves as Lay Pastor to a congregation that is so small that they cannot call an ordained pastor. Pr. Peter is also very active in ministry at assisted living homes.

Our young people love being able to lead the liturgy, to pray the prayers of the church, and; yes, even to preach. They are becoming very good public speakers and witnesses to the Lord. I am grateful that we have this opportunity to train them to be servant leaders. Whether they will use these things that they are learning in the church or out in the world is yet to be seen. But, we trust that they will not depart from the way which they have been shown when they are old.

We do not believe that children are just the future of the church. They are also the church today. With the help of God, one day they will be training their children in the way that they should go.

God's Peace - Pr. J

1 Timothy 3 Elders Shine!

1 Timothy 3 NIV
No, not everyone within a congregation should be on the slate of elections as an overseer (council member, elder, etc.) of the congregation or denomination. It is not always easy to find potential willing candidates for some of these positions of leadership; but, that does not mean that we should not be discerning in whom we choose to lead and serve our communities of faith. They must be faithful to God, willing to set aside their personal desires and ambitions in this world. Jesus comes first, always!

St. Paul outlines some basic guidelines for Timothy to use in his position as a leader of the church at Ephesus. They must be faithful to their spouse, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, not given to drunkenness, not violent but, gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money.

It is necessary for our servant leaders to be able to conduct their personal lives in a way that the light of Christ and not deeds of darkness is seen by others. We are not; after all, a social club. We are the Body of Christ. Let your light so shine!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Acts 6:1-7 Ministry of Word

Acts 6:1-7 NIV
As a lay person, I understood my primary call to be a prayer warrior. I also had gifts that enabled me to serve as a youth leader and was involved in many outreach programs that helped feed people and cared for them according to their needs. As a pastor, I consider my primary call to be not only as a prayer warrior, but also as evangelist; one who proclaims the Word, not only within the congregation; but, in the whole community or wherever I might be in both word and deed. It can be summed up in these three words:  "Prayer, praise, proclamation." We are all given gifts to be used according to the needs of the community; for the good of all. We work together, using our individual gifts, for the glory of God. One person cannot do it all. I thank God for the many faithful disciples at Zion Lutheran who, according to their gifts, serve one another and the whole community.

The apostles began running into problems not too long after the church was born. The church was growing quickly. There was way too much for twelve of them to do. They were busy trying to minister to everyone who was hungry; feeding thing with physical food. Consequently, they found themselves with less and less time for the ministry of the word; less time to feed them spiritually. So that they would be able to give their full attention to prayer and the ministry of the word, they chose seven men who would be in charge of making sure that everyone, including all of the widows, were fed.

May God fill each of us with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom so that we will know how best to use our gifts for the ministry and the power to use those gifts for the good of all and the glory of God.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Mark 7 - Judgments

Sometimes, judgments are made about others. They do this or they do that thing which they ought not do. Sometimes, we judge others by what they neglect to do; like the washing of the hands before they eat. Jesus makes it pretty clear that we often misunderstand the law.

We often judge others by our own misunderstanding of who or maybe what someone is. (Just maybe they are a child of God - you think?) Jesus makes it pretty clear that he discerns things in a way most of us do not. The religious leaders all thought he should be about them, about the temple and about the law. But, here we have Jesus serving pagan gentiles! Oh, my! He exorcises the Syrophoenician woman's daughter and heals the deaf man from Decapolis.

The religious leaders come to judge him; while the gentiles come, in faith, to be delivered from their infirmities. What a loss those religious leaders suffered by not being as open to accepting Jesus as he was in accepting others.

May God grant that we would, rather than question the faith of others, treat them as Jesus would.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Isaiah 36 - Let The People Hear The Truth

Again, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem are warned that because they falsely trust Egypt to save them, they will be overthrown by Assyria. The commander of Assyria provides this warning and threat. He reminds them that it is their own God, who is turning them over to them because of their infidelity. The commander tells them, boldly and in front of all the people, "Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it." (Isa 35:10 NIV)

Now the leaders of Israel would really prefer that this commander were speaking in another language, in Aramaic rather than Hebrew, so that the ordinary people would not hear and understand the dire straights that they were in. But, the commander refuses. The people are going to hear. If they are going to suffer the same judgment as their leaders than they really should have a heads up on what is going on and what is coming!

That goes not only for that day, but for ours as well. I believe that we have a right to know what our government is planning. I believe we have a need to know about potential threats and what our government plans to do about it. Listening to the news, as I cleaned house last night, I could not help but think that we have a few too many government agencies who are doing top secret things that maybe we (the people) should know more about before they even begin these activities. Top Secret is beginning to sound more akin to doing something that the people may not approve of or maybe God does not approve of, so lets keep it a secret so the ordinary people don't know what trouble we are leading them into.

As most of you know, the media can drive me nuts at times. They seem to do a lot of surmising without a lot of facts. However, it is beginning to be revealed that this surmising sometimes brings out truth that would otherwise be hidden from the ordinary people, the average voter. It reminds me of the commander of the Assyrian Army speaking to the leaders of Israel in full hearing of the people on the wall and telling them that the people need to know so that they can understand the consequences of the leaders' decisions. Some of the decisions being made today appear to have some possible far reaching possibilities for negating the constitutional freedoms and rights of the people. There may be many consequences for us all that we have not even begun to imagine by trusting in a government before trusting in God.

This morning, as detestable as some of the things I hear on the news is (and some of it sadly is mere gossip), I am thanking God that there are whistle-blowers out there who report on not so constitutional activities of the government and a media that is not afraid to report it.

May we all be so truthful so that we can all be prepared for whatever may befall us in our tomorrows.

God's Peace - Pr. J

BTW - did you notice how in the face of internal problems with our own government, we don't hear so much about North Korea? Why is that, I wonder?

Sorry if I offend anyone this morning. As a reminder, this blog, is to remind you to read the chapter for the day and I will comment as it stirs up thoughts in my own heart and mind. These are my thoughts this morning....

Proverbs 28 - Rules Who Pursue Righteousness and Justice For all Wanted!

Proverbs 28 is chock full of wise sayings; sayings worth paying attention to and maybe changing one's life a bit. For example:

"The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." (Prov 28:1 NIV) 
"A discerning son heeds instruction, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father." (Prov 28:7)
"Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their 
     fill of poverty." (Prov 28:19)
"The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper." (Prov 28:25)

The one that strikes home the most this morning is verse 2: "When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order."

I'm thinking that when a country has a strong leader, one that pursues righteousness for all people, one who does not pursue agendas either for the rich or the poor, for the strong or the weak. When a country has leader that will rule with justice for all people, then the people will be united with one another, helping and supporting the whole country in times of need. But, when the leader is weak, doing what is righteous in his own eyes, the people will go in many directions, following various leaders as they look for what is right for themselves, not for all people, and there will be much strife, as the people dispute amongst themselves, who shall be the greatest and who shall be the least.

Just praying for a bit more order in this country, today. There is way too much self-righteousness, where our leaders think they can do no wrong. There are way too many leaders, who lead with their egos, rather than with the discernment and knowledge of the wisdom and the will of God for all people, causing frustration and rebelliousness in the land.

Pray for this country, that the rebellious hearts of her people will be softened towards the needs of one another and of the country as a whole; that her rulers will lead with one heart and mind, trusting in the will of the LORD, so that we might once again prosper.

God's Peace - Pr. J