By pastormike on 12/27/2011 12:19 PM

Christmas Eve 2011

    A few days ago I decided to make another addition to my wife's angel collection. I was shopped at Hallmark in the Mall and was captivated by the inscriptions on their angels. Some of these are on the screen behind me. Such as:

"Friends are gifts from heaven." "Angel of Hope." "Angel of Faith." "Angel of faith, hope and charity." "Little miracles fill our lives with love and our hearts with happiness." "Love with all your heart." "A friend loves at all times." (Pr 17) "Angels have wings to carry your prayers." "The best part of friendship is sharing, laughter and smiles." "Friends are like stars. Sometimes you can't see them, but you know they're there." The one I bought says: "Angels see the good in all of God's creation."     All of these were so positive and uplifting. It was hard to choose just one.

    After paying the clerk pointed me toward a gift wrapping station out in the main part of the mall. "They are raising funds for...

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By pastormike on 12/24/2011 11:48 AM

Advent 3: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Luke 1:26-38

December 11, 2011

    What a week that was. One man got 14 years and his pension was taken away. The other man got 10 years, $254 million and new home. Both got what they deserved – one a disgraced governor who deceived and conspired to enrich himself out of sight of the public, while the other in full view to everyone watching displayed both his tremendous talent as an athlete and his decency as a human being.

    Professional athletes make more than they're worth. But if any of us could swing a bat like Albert Pujols would we do anything different than he did this week? He was born in poverty, now he is rich. Pujols has used his fortune in many good ways over the years to help others, especially through the foundation he and wife Deidre created to help children with Down Syndrome.

    "The Pujols' have a daughter, Isabella, 13, with Down syndrome. The Pujols Family Foundation they started has a mission to serve two groups. In...

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By pastormike on 12/24/2011 11:47 AM

Advent 2: Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15; Mark 1:1-8

December 4, 2011

There are times for all of us when we wonder: "Is God for us or against us?" When our fortunes are down, there's pain, sorrow, depression and we don't know whether we will ever make it through we wonder – where is God? Does God care?

The scriptures give many examples of this. During the days of captivity in Babylon Israel wondered if God cared. It didn't seem as if he did. Everything they had learned and believed about being God's chosen ones had been destroyed. And there were no signs that their plight could ever be better.

But then the prophet cried out: "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

Despite all they had been through Isaiah encouraged captive Israel to believe again in God's goodness that God hadn't given up on them....

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By pastormike on 12/24/2011 11:46 AM

Advent 1: Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37

November 27, 2011

    It was a mostly wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Temperatures topped 60 degrees on Friday with full sun. Christmas lights were going up. Family reunions. Grandkids and grandparents together. A lot of visiting and good food. We had scalloped oysters, along with turkey, pumpkin and cherry pies at our house . Some mowed yards. Many shopped. We played scrabble. And much more. You name it.

But holidays almost always have a tinge of sadness mixed in with joy.

There is sadness because many miss the loved ones with whom they shared the joy of Thanksgiving, but who have passed away. Several in this church have lost either a mom, a dad or spouse this year. Others are battling disease and undergoing treatments. You may know of a family in crisis. The war in Afghanistan is ongoing and single parents of fallen loved ones are facing the challenge of raising the kids alone. The economy is still sluggish. Many can't find work. Others fear they may lose the job they have. ...

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By pastormike on 12/24/2011 11:46 AM

"The Hands of God"

Pentecost-Christ the King Sunday: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46

November 20, 2011

    Role playing is fun. But seriously how did you on my right feel about being judged the righteous? Lucky? Even though you have flubbed up from time to time you were accepted anyway. And so you feel great. But those on my left are saying that those on my right are no better than you are. And so if judgment is this arbitrary it isn't fair. We're good people too. We try to do right just as much as they do. Why aren't we acceptable?

    Of course, this was all predetermined before you got here this morning to be sure. No one had an inkling about the significance of where you chose to sit. Some have believed though that God predestines people to heaven or hell like this. That where we go after death doesn't depend on what you do or how you live but by how God predestines us. This is called double predestination.

    You will be glad to hear then that...

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By pastormike on 12/24/2011 11:45 AM

Church Conference: Matthew 5:13-20

Nov 13, 2011

    During my Junior year in college I was a Junior Advisor to freshmen students who lived on the same dormitory floor where I lived. I also loved popcorn. It wasn't part of the training manual for being a Junior Advisor but I kept an oil popper from home with me throughout college. I also liked to be generous with the salt. (I still am.)

    On Sunday evenings and often on week nights too I would fire up the popper and within a few minutes the aroma would be wafting down the hall. You can imagine what was coming. Before long others literally began to pop in. Over time this became such a routine that I would end up with a room full of people. It wasn't just freshmen either but upperclassmen too. If one batch ran I popped another. And kept on popping until no one was hungry.

    Naturally as we munched we talked a lot. The problems of life and how to solve them. Politics. Sports – who was the best team? The latest national...

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By pastormike on 12/24/2011 11:45 AM

Pentecost 22: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30

November 13, 2011

    What a blessing each week to see so many friendly, smiling faces here to worship on Sunday mornings. On some weeks there can be almost 200 of you counting both services together. On average there have been about 175 here week to week this year. Most of you are familiar with one another, but often there are visitors mixed in too, friends we haven't met yet. What a blessing it is that you come back, week after week, to listen to God's Word proclaimed, to be inspired by the music and fellowship with one another, to share your concerns and needs for prayer, and to pray for others. And as the plates are passed to put in your donations for God's work to be done here on earth and to make a difference in shaping the hearts and minds of all ages with the gospel of Christ.

    This is what the church is here to do - to introduce worshipers to Jesus Christ and his love, to be nurtured in his love and then become his disciple...

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By pastormike on 12/24/2011 11:44 AM

Pentecost 21: Matthew 25:1-13

November 6, 2011

    In all the weddings I have officiated I have never known one where a couple failed to show up at the reception. After the wedding guests are invited to go on to another place for the reception while the couple and their attendants stay behind to finish up pictures and take a joy ride around the neighborhood. When they arrive at the reception the bride and groom are introduced to a standing ovation and the celebrating begins.

     Imagine though that you are at a reception where the husband and bride don't show and you don't know why. Maybe they were in an accident or the car broke down. Maybe someone else had an emergency and they had to attend to that. Maybe they were kidnapped. Maybe they just decided to take off on their honeymoon and skip their banquet. Maybe they had a fight and called the whole thing off.

    Whatever the reason one thing is for sure and that is as the waiting drags on the guests will become restless and gradually start to leave. Eventually the caterer will pack up and leave too....

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By pastormike on 11/20/2011 7:15 PM

Pentecost 20: Joshua 3:7-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23:1-12

October 30, 2011

    One of my most cherished artifacts is this ox yoke which was used by my mom's family when they moved from Ohio to Illinois, near Urbana in the early 1850s. Yokes like this were common equipment in those days. If you had an ox you could get a lot of things done you couldn't do yourself or would take you a longer to do. And if you had two oxen then that was even better because you had twice the power. But to harness all that energy in constructive ways you needed a yoke. One hundred fifty years ago people depended on these like we depend on machines and computers now.

    This connects with the scripture this morning where we find Israel on the move crossing the Jordan River into the land that God had promised to give them. They may have had yokes like this one to harness the energies of oxen to pull their carts and wagons. But they also needed another kind yoke to help them pull together as a people...

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By pastormike on 11/20/2011 7:14 PM

Pentecost 18: Exodus 33:12-23; Matthew 22:15-22

October 16, 2011

    On one of our Christmas trips to Minnesota several years ago we ran into a blizzard just west of Albert Lea in the southern part of the state. We were driving west on I90 when we saw what looked like a white sheet hanging across the road up ahead. In fact this was the edge of the storm and when we hit it we suddenly could see nothing except all white reflecting back in our eyes. Fortunately we did see a pair of red lights just ahead which were the back end of a trailer truck. We slowed down and followed along behind.

    Those red lights were a God sighting because there are times in life like this too when we get caught up in situations where we can't see what's ahead. Indeed everyday is like this for we never see or know exactly what will happen from one moment or day to the next. Our vision is always limited. In this context faith is learning to trust in the red lights that God provides to lead us through an...

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