So please enjoy! [...]]]> For awhile now I have been wanting to record my sermons and post them on this blog.  Here is a sermon from May 16, 2010.  While most preachers post their transcripts online, I would much rather post something you can listen too.  I believe that the preached word needs to be heard, not read.

So please enjoy!  I will be trying to set up a connection with itunes so you can download the sermons from there as well.  Before you listen it might help to start with reading the lessons for the day.

Acts 16:16-34; Psalm  97; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26

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He doesn’t have a name, a voice, or a personality yet — but I love him anyway.  The tag that he came with says his name is Sunny but I don’t like that name.  I will be using him during the children’s sermon on Sunday morning.  I did a little (VERY LITTLE) ventriloquism in high school.  My dad [...]]]>

He doesn’t have a name, a voice, or a personality yet — but I love him anyway.  The tag that he came with says his name is Sunny but I don’t like that name.  I will be using him during the children’s sermon on Sunday morning.  I did a little (VERY LITTLE) ventriloquism in high school.  My dad had a puppet and I would use the puppet some, but I did not get into it too much.  But ventriloquism has intrigued me over the years.

I have talked with my friend and fellow blogger about the use of storytelling in church.  She has blogged about her experiences of memorizing the Gospel lesson and telling that rather than reading the Gospel.  I love that idea and perhaps that muscle memory will help in memorizing my sermon as well.

But I think using puppets during the children’s sermon will A) Help with children’s sermon preparation B)  Engage the children in Biblical Stories C) Engaged the congregation in the Biblical Stories and D) Bring a new dimension to our worship.

I love the fact that we have a number of families in worship on a Sunday morning, it warms my heart every time I am able to look into the eyes of a child at the communion rail and put my hand on their head and give them a blessing.  I love hearing the sounds of children in worship.  I hope this brings us an opportunity to expand the role of children in worship.

I am giving myself until June 6th to create a character for my little friend.  Any help that you can give me would be great!!  Like I said, I need a name for him, a personality, a voice.  If you have heard a voice of a cartoon character lately that you think would fit please let me know.

The story that I have thought of so far for my little friend is that he is the “forgotten”  the disciple,  he claims that there were in fact 13 disciples and since 13 is an unlucky number, he was the one that go cut out.  He says that it was all political and he is mad about that.  His overall personality  may be grumpy disciple and he wants to tell “his side” of the story.  Grumpy is usually pretty funny….I like funny.  But I am open to changing that, I want this to be good stuff.  So I have two questions……

1)  If you were to bring your child to church (or if you already do) what kind of character would you like to see?

2)  What other ways would you like to see children involved in worship on a Sunday morning?

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Clinton String Quartet to Celebrate

Advent and Christmas

On the morning of Sunday, December 20, the sounds of Christmas will be alive in the air of Baldwinsville.  St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church will present a Festival of Lessons and Carols at the 9:30 a.m. service featuring the musical forces [...]]]> St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and the

Clinton String Quartet to Celebrate

Advent and Christmas

On the morning of Sunday, December 20, the sounds of Christmas will be alive in the air of Baldwinsville.  St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church will present a Festival of Lessons and Carols at the 9:30 a.m. service featuring the musical forces of the church joined by the Clinton String Quartet from the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.  The children of the Sunday School will also present their Christmas Pageant to complete the visual counterpoint to the musical offering.  There will be Brunch following the service to which all are invited.  The church is located at 2840 Cold Springs Road in Balwinsville.

This festival service, crafted by noted sacred composer Hal Hopson will outline the story of Christmas—beginning with the creation of the world, the prophecies, and ending with the birth of Jesus and the many witnesses to this miracle.  The carols are a combination of well-known and unknown, and contain ample opportunities for congregational participation in their singing.

The combine choirs of St. Mark’s will sing and ring handbells throughout the service in a series of fresh, inventive settings of carols from around the world, each corresponding to a reading from scripture.  The award-winning Clinton String Quartet will also provide inspiring music from their own repertoire in addition to accompanying the singing.  St. Mark’s music director, Frederick Willard, will conduct, and Alice Hatt will be the guest organist.  A free will offering will be received.

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Let’s see how many people can do this. Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as [...]]]> For the last month I have been reading about all the thankful things in my friends lives through status messages on facebook.  Many of my friends began by posting this:

Let’s see how many people can do this. Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as your status. “Today I am thankful for…” The longer you do it, the harder it gets! Now if you think you can do it then repost this message as your status to invite others to take the challenge, then post what YOU are thankful for today.

I commend them for attempting to do this.  I chose not to participate on facebook.  But I would like to now post 27 things that I am thankful for here to make up for my lack of participation on facebook.

Here goes nothing:

1.  For my wife and my best friend.  She stands beside me in all aspects of my life, she pushes me to do my best no matter what the obstacles are, she seems to love me more and more each day, evenn the parts that I may not love…

2.  For my son, who is one of the most important people in my life.  He is bright, active and he is always ready to have fun.  He is smart and fun to be around and he always surprises me.   I love coming home to him and hearing about his day.

3.  For my daughter, who at 2 years old already has me wrapped around her little finger.  She gets so excited every time I come home from work.  She makes me laugh and cry in a matter of seconds.  She is going to grow up and be a beautiful, intelligent, independent woman.

4.  For a church that has been patient with a first call pastor.   They  work with me as I learn what it means to be a pastor and they allow me to work with them as a congregation in the community that we live in.

5.  For our house.  Even though we may not own it yet, we are happy to be settled in a house that we can almost call our own, and we can feel completely settled for the first time in our life together as a family.

6.  For me extended family.  I love my parents and my brothers who bring so much to our lives.  I may not say it enough but there is no measure of gratitude I can express for the positive presence they have been and continue to be in my life.

7.  For my friends who are like family.  I have the best friends a person could ask for….I have been inspired, awed, humbled, and wowed over and over again in my life by these people.  I am thankful for any time that I get to spend with them (because it is not much these days).  I miss them but I am thankful for the quality of time that I do spend with them and I look forward to that more than getting presents at Christmas.

8.  For all of those who have died this past year.  So many people walk into our lives and make lasting impressions on our hearts….I give thanks for them.

9.  For music — so many times I don’t have the right words for a certain situation and so many times music steps in and gives the words and/or the sound to complete my thoughts.

10.  For celebrations, this year I celebrated my 5 year anniversary with my wife, my first anniversary of being at the church I serve and the first anniversary of my ordination…..I look forward to celebrate more in the years to come.

11.  For the opportunity to work with the youth of my church.  I love youth ministry and I am thankful for being able to have a congregation that sees my passion and ability to work with the young people of the church and I am thankful for the opportunity to do so on a daily basis.

12.  For vacation….do I need to say more?

13.  For the opportunity to serve, especially during our trip to New Orleans this past summer.

14.  For my heath.  Even though I continue to struggle with some health issues, I am thankful for the health that I do have an the opportunity to continue to live a healthier lifestyle.

15.  For colleagues that have been so important to my ministry this past year.  For my colleagues who check in with me and who offer advice as to how to improve my ministry.   For my colleagues who just lend a listening ear.

16.  For new beginnings………

17.  For opportunities to walk with people in the best and worst times of their lives.

18.  For the ELCA who struggles with its identity as a denomination.   For people who are able to have a constructive conversation about their beliefs and interpretation of the Bible.  For those who may disagree with decisions by the ELCA but choose to work from within rather than leave or withhold money.

19.  For the leadership of bishops, especially Bishop Hanson and Bishop Jerge.

20.  For my pets,  I am thankful for our dog and two cats.  I love them and I can’t imagine my life without them.

21.  For my ability to self criticize.  For my ability to see my mistakes and not to get frustrated with myself but to grow and blossom as an individual as a leader.

22.  For things that make my life easier (ie technology) my iphone, my laptop, wireless Internet, Google, spanning sync, MoblieMe, ect

23.  For the things that I take for granted — being a white male, living in America, freedom, an education, a job, a family, my health, my cars, electricity, running water ect

24.  For all those who fight to serve our country.  May God bless them in the work that they do.

25.  For DVR (can this count as two?)

26.  For the stress releases in my life:  music, working out, television.  I will need them more and more the closer we get to Christmas.

That is my list, I am sure that I am not including everything — because it was not hard to come up with the many blessings in my life.  I feel blessed!

I hope that everyone who reads this had a blessed Thanksgiving.

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Confirmation has become the “rite of passage” for Lutheran fourteen year-olds.  For many is is the most important moment of their young faith [...]]]> Confirmation in the Lutheran Church is a two or three-year process where seventh, eight and/or ninth graders spend time in conversation about their beliefs of the Old Testament, New Testament and Luther’s Small Catechism.

Confirmation has become the “rite of passage” for Lutheran fourteen year-olds.  For many is is the most important moment of their young faith life with the emphasis placed on their confirmation vow.  However, at this peak of their faith life many junior high youth consider confirmation their “graduation” from church and many newly confirmed members drift away soon after their vows because they believed they had “completed” their instruction. As a result, Lutheran churches most recently have been trying new and varied approaches to better teach children about Jesus.

In the Confirmation Ministry Task Force Report of the ELCA, Confirmation is defined at

Confirmation ministry is a pastoral and education ministry of the church that helps the baptized through Word and Sacrament to identify more deeply with the Christian community and participate more fully in its mission.

With this  in mind the church on 370 had evaluated and reevaluated our confirmation ministry program.  We first started our discussion about Confirmation Ministry with scripture we see confirmation as “equipping the saints for the works of ministry…” (Ephesians 4:11) We invite families to engage in a two-year program that enables youth to grow in faith, to ask probing questions and to become active members in the life of the church. In addition to addressing the question of content, “What do we (I) believe?”, we also seek to answer such questions as “What do Christians do?”, “How do Christians live?”, “What does it mean to be called a Christian?”, and “What difference does Jesus Christ make in my (our) life?”

There are five major components in our confirmation ministry

1.  The Crucial Role of Parents

Because parents are learning partners with their children, and play a critical role in their child’s faith journey, we therefore:

• Strongly encourage each parent to participate in the faith life of the church
• Encourage parents to discuss daily high’s and low’s with their children
• Invite parents to pray at mealtime and bedtime with their children
• Seek their participation in learner sheets given to the confirmands during the year which are designed for parents and confirmands
• Request that parents attend a mid-year evaluation with their child’s guides
• Ask parents to oversee completion of a sermon outlines each week
• Expect parents to insure that their children arrive on time and prepared for classes with their Bible, folder, small Catechism and pen.

The rest of the confirmation requirements are for the confirmands themselves

2.   Worship

• Regularly attend worship
• Complete sermon outlines as they worship
• Involvement in the worship leadership of the church (usher, lector, acolyte, choir member,  altar guild)
• Visit different faith communities with the class during the year

3.          Devoted to Learning

• Attend Confirmation Preparation time with Pastor (9^th grade)
• Participation in confirmation camp during the summer following 7^th or 8^th grade.
• Study of Luther’s Small Catechism
• Study of key Biblical themes, books and verses, including the following work due on May 1^st of each year:
• 7^th Grade: Outline the Gospel of Luke (Chapters 1-9)
• 8^th Grade: Outline the Gospel of Luke (Chapters 10-24)
• 9^th Grade: Develop personal faith project

4. Fellowship

Events will be planned to help assimilate confirmands into the life of the congregation. These will include such elements as lock-ins, key congregational events, and getting to know other youth through fun, fellowship, and food. The Christian community plays an important role in the formation of its members. For this reason we seek to involve peers, parents, mentors, and guides, as well as the pastor, in the process of confirmation.

4. Mission

Jesus invited his followers to respond to the needs of others in a way that modeled his own behavior. As He said in the Gospel, “In as much as you have done it to the least of these, so you have done it to me.” One basic element of Christian life is that of servanthood. We have been called to mission. Each year we participate in servant events that are designed to help us learn about Christian mission and to participate in that ministry. These events will allow our confirmands to meet people active in Christian mission and support their outreach endeavors with hands-on experience.

• Participate in a minimum of four of the following eight annual servant events:                                          CROP Walk, Volleyball Marathon, Bowl-a-Thon, Vanderkamp Clean-up, Community Dinner, Block Party, Youth Garage Sale, or one that you propose

• Develop a “Pay it forward” activity with members of their 9^th grade confirmation class in conjunction with the Pastor.

As far as curriculum we are using Augsburg Fortress Here We Stand curriculum.  I have used it for the past three years and really enjoy how well it is laid out and how flexible it is to use.

Since we use three years of material and only have two years of program we have established a “pre-confimation” program.  I have been really excited about this program.  We have a large number of 5th and 6th graders who are eager to learn about the Bible and learn about their faith in God.  So we are using the 5th and 6th grade years to introduce the Old Testament to the group, to have opportunities to learn about the lighter side of church and to have opportunities to ask questions.  So far this has been very successful.

As we move forward in our confirmation ministry at the church on 370 we hope to create disciples, to build relationships in and among the group and to enable the youth to see their confirmation not as the end of their time in church but the beginning.

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This Wednesday I will be leaving with two other adults and 5 kids from St Mark’s to New Orleans!  I’m pretty excited about it! We’re going [...]]]> July has been a whirlwind in many respects.  I can’t believe it is half over.  But one would not think summer has even come given the weather in CNY this year.

This Wednesday I will be leaving with two other adults and 5 kids from St Mark’s to New Orleans!  I’m pretty excited about it! We’re going to be flying Wednesday Morning around noon. This trip is the ELCA National Youth Gathering which takes place in a different city every three years. This will be my first time attending in a Youth Gathering.

In 2003 I helped send a youth group to the National Youth Gathering in Atlanta, GA just before I left for seminary. In 2006 I helped a youth group get to the National Youth Gathering in San Antonio, TX just before I went on internship for seminary.  So I am excited to be going as a chaperone for our group this year! The Gathering is pretty much a huge youth event. Somewhere around 38,000 high school youth and adults will be participating this year! We’ll be sleeping in hotels throughout the city and will have activities in a convention center as well as our large group events in the Super dome!

Here will be some sites that you might want to check out this week:

The ELCA National Youth Gathering Site -  Click Here

My Twitter Feed where I will be giving LIVE updates -  Click Here (or check out the sidebar on my blog)

My Blog where I will share some experiences -  (you made it here already – but hit and RSS feed to get my posts delievered directly to you!)

I will be uploading pictures as we go along - Click Here

I have also added a feed of all those twittering about the gathering in my sidebar.  That way you can know all that is happening at the gathering.

Please be praying for our youth and adults and all who are at the gathering this year.  Please look out for emails and annoucements to times and places where we will be sharing our experiences sometime later this summer.

**  There has been alot going on this summer– after I come back from New Orleans I will be gearing up for our block party then I will be taking some time and reflecting on all that I have done and accomplished.  So stay tuned!! **

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It was different for me to log on to my computer this morning and hear from my friends about how much snow they are getting all up and down the East Coast.  I sat back in my chair and told them that here in Baldwinsville I did not see one flake fall from the [...]]]> Happy Monday Morning

It was different for me to log on to my computer this morning and hear from my friends about how much snow they are getting all up and down the East Coast.  I sat back in my chair and told them that here in Baldwinsville I did not see one flake fall from the sky.  The “Snow Capital” of the world did not get any snow!!

I think I am fully prepared for snow from Thanksgiving to Easter.  I tell myself that I do not have the right to complain about the snow between these times.  If it snows before Thanksgiving or after Easter you might hear a complaint from me.

I want to say thank you again to everyone who participated in the celebration/service last Saturday. It was a memorable evening and I am so glad that I was able to celebrate with everyone.  Just the idea of putting something together like that and have the reception that we did means alot to me and my family.

Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.  Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.  In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.  To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.  But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.  All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;  “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

⁹I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:  You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!  For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.  From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.  The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

²⁸For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.  To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.  Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

Pastor’s Reflection

Pain

When I read this psalm all I can think about is pain.  I imagine Jesus hanging on the cross as these words come from his mouth.  I feel what he is feeling and it is hard to imagine.  Then I ask myself what does real pain feel like?

Too many of us have experienced true pain….emotional pain in the loss of a parent or child, physical pain from an injury….sometimes our pain is too much to bear alone.  Well the end of the psalm talks about two things that can take away our pain.  The first being the community that is gathered together.  If you are experiencing pain one of the best places to go is a gathering of a community, a community where people have experienced the same kinds of pain that you are feeling.(That is easier said than done)

The second place you can turn to is to God.  God is the one who can take away all our pain.  When it might not feel like it in the midst of our pain God resides, God is in the places we least expect to see God.  Times when we feel like we are further from God, God is there.

When I think of true pain I remember the 1997 Blockbuster Titanic.  I think of the storyline between Rose and Jack and what they went through.  Then I imagine them holding hands after the ship sank and Rose saying Goodbye to Jack after she realized he was gone.

It is so hard to say goodbye — To know that there is someone that we love that we will never see again.  But my hope is that through the love of the Christian community we can gather together and support one another through our tough times and celebrate with one another when times are good!

Prayer

Oh Lord, you know our hearts, you know what we long for and why we hurt.  We ask your presence be upon all who are hurt, all who mourn and all who need your comfort and grace.  Be with those people and strengthen them to reach out to you and their brothers and sisters in Christ.  Enable those who they reach out to, to give them strength and hope and love.  In Jesus Name  Amen.

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