Claimed, gathered and sent

I read the following tonight during my devotions using Minister's Prayer Book by John W. Doberstein. Each day of the week is devoted to a different aspect of ministry. Tuesday concerns the minister's life. One of the reflections included for today was written by Kierkegaard (pictured at right). I found it very thought provoking and sobering. Order the parsons to be silent on Sundays. What is there left? The essential things remain: their lives, the daily life with which the parsons preach.Would you, then, get the impression by watching them, that it was Christianity they were preaching? By God's grace, may our lives speak of the life of Christ and him crucified, buried, and raised. Picture from Encarta

God's presence is evident wherever we dare to look for it. My relationship with L. is one such example. When I had my knee surgery last week L. and I were next to each other in the recovery room. We have the same doctor and had the same procedure on the same knee. We were room mates in the hospital. We are room mates here at Riverview . One sleepless night as we talked, we discovered that Ray and I know her brother from church! Coincidence...I think not. So I have been asking God what was going on, what purpose does he have for our meeting? It is becoming much clearer now. My surgery was nice and straightforward, unlike L's. Whatever could go wrong has gone wrong, the latest of which is problems with the clotting of her blood, leaving her vulnerable to blood clots. She and her family are scared. As doctors work to resolve the crisis, they wait and wonder how and if a solution will be found. But God knows all about this. My role is to befriend and pray. Picture from flickr.

A number of years ago, I worked at McDonald's. No matter how I washed my uniforms, no matter what I used, they smelled like McDonald's food. People could tell where I had been just by the smell. Last week the smell of turkey wafted through the house thanks to a revgalblogpal recipe. Everything goes in the crockpot: turkey breast, cranberry sauce, and onion soup mix. Then you just let it cook for about 10 hours. It's so easy. And it smells and tastes delicious. And of course coffee! Yum. Even people that don't like coffee enjoy the aroma. What is our scent? In this passage , Paul speaks of the believer having an aroma...the "aroma of the knowledge" of God that is to be spread everywhere. We are an aroma to the people we encounter daily and an aroma to God. Can people tell where we've been, who we've been with by what we smell like? So, how do we smell like Jesus? Spend time with him. Hang out with him. Learn from him. Abide in him. Everyone will...

My personal philosophy of leadership is Jesus-style servanthood. “You must know what you care about…Because you can only be authentic when leading others according to the principles that matter most to you” (Kouzes & Posner, 2002, p. 52). Jesus evidenced the “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” (Kouzes & Posner, 2002, p. 13) in his leadership as he modeled the way, inspired a shared vision, challenged the process, enabled others to act, and encouraged the heart (Kouzes & Posner, p. 13). His impact was dynamic, embodying “Genuine acts of caring [that] uplift the spirits and draw people forward” (Kouzes & Posner, p. 19). The results: a small band multiplied (Matthew 11:28) . “Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we are claimed, gathered, and sent for the sake of the world” (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 2006, p. 5) meaning “It’s not about you” (Warren, 2002, p. 17). We play but a small part in God’s plan. Leading through dependence upon God is ke...

Parts of the lectionary readings from Tues. really got me thinking. I could not decide which reading to meditate on. Something in each one grabbed me. Ps. 149:4 regarding the Lord's pleasure in his people, Exodus 40:38 -- God's presence with the people through each part of the journey, and 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 with its instructions on how to live incarnational lives. So these bits from the readings all seem interconnected. I had a great diagram of this in Word, but don't know how to add it here, so just imagine a cycle of the above in a circle: 1. God's delight in us. 2. His presence every stage of our journey. 3. Living an incarnational lifestyle--bearing witness of his presence in our lives, and then back to #1 bringing us full circle. Speaking of full circle, remember what we read from Acts on Sunday? Ah yes, the all too familiar story of Stephen's stoning. Martyrdom was the stage of the journey where Stephen found his Lord's presence. He bore witn...

You ever read something and you know you've been nailed--those thoughts, actions, feelings that we don't like to admit to, well...we have to own up to them. Please read this article at Gifted for Leadership and you too may be rocked. What do you think? My husband's reaction was that person should not even be considering ministry. I don't know, I think she was just being very honest about those things we'd like to pretend we wouldn't feel or do. Picture from klikr.