Stuck in high gear

While studying for a message about our need to make room for God in our busy lives I couldn't help but remember this classic ballad. May it be a reminder of what is most important. This video tells a little of the back story to the song.

Road Trip Pictures

Yes, it has been a long time since I've added a blog entry. Facebook is not the same, but it seems to be what's working for me these days. Several have asked if they could see pictures from our Sabbatical road trip this summer so I'm adding a few of my favorites here. I posted several albums on my Facebook sight so you can check them out there.

Good Friday

A song for Good Friday by Tammy Trent.

Who Stole My Church?

For church leaders who want to bring change and church members who wish things were the way they used to be, Who Stole My Church? is a fictional (yet very common) story about the difficult process a church goes through to reinvent itself in order to meet the challenges of ministry in a rapidly changing culture.

Gordon MacDonald tells a compelling tale complete with recognizable characters while at the same time imparting invaluable lessons for both change leaders and change resisters.

Gordon MacDonald has been a pastor for more 40 years and he understands the bitterness and heartbreak that older members feel when the church they spent their lives building seems to be taken from them by eager leaders. He also understands why change is so necessary if a church is to be effective.

At first the story seemed a bit corny but as the plot unfolded I eagerly anticipated each chapter. I highly recommend it to pastors, church leaders and seasoned saints.

Inaugural Prayers

Our new president gave an inspiring speech on Tuesday, but my favorite "speeches" were the prayers given by Rick Warren for the invocation and Joseph Lowery for the benediction. The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders, whether or not we agree with all of their policies. Here are two pastors whose prayers were heard around the world.

Rick Warren's invocation:



Almighty God -- our Father. Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, ‘Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.’ And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King, and a great cloud of witnesses, are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice-President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom, and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes -- even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation, and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations and all people will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president, and his wife Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life -- Yeshua, Isa, Jesús, Jesus -- who taught us to pray:

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen.

Joseph Lowery's benediction:

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand -- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you're able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.

Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)

END.

Happy New Year!

Turning the calendar to a new year provokes some reflective thought. When I woke up this morning I thought of how fortunate I am to have my family and friends to share life's ups and downs with. I hope you feel the same.

Today we welcome the New Year as if we are welcoming a stranger who has been knocking on our door. We hope the stranger is bringing us good news or offering something of value to us, but the stranger could also be a bearer of sadness or someone searching for a safe place. I hope and pray 2009 will be all good, but I know that it will also include those who bear sadness and seek safety.

Jesus said, "I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Mt. 25:35)

2009, come on in, I welcome you.

Advent Calendar

I found this online Advent Calendar at Christianity Today. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I am.