Covenant Prayer

We are praying a Covenant Prayer this Sunday during worship as we commit or recommit ourselves to God. Is it a great prayer to pray anytime.

O God, Searcher of all our hearts,
you have formed us as a people and claimed us for your own.
As we come to acknowledge your sovereignty and grace,
and to enter anew into covenant with you,
reveal any reluctance or falsehood within us.
Let your Spirit impress your truth on our inmost being,
and receive us in mercy, for the sake of our Mediator, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Let me be your servant, under your command.
I will no longer be my own.
I will give up myself to your will in all things.

Lord, make me what you will.
I put myself fully into your hands:
put me to doing, put me to suffering,
let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and with a willing heart
give it all to your pleasure and disposal.

O God, you know that I make this covenant with you today
without guile or reservation.
If any falsehood should be in it, guide me and help me to set it aright.
And now, glory be to you, O God the Father,
whom I from this day forward shall look upon my God and Father.
Glory be to you, O God the Son,
who have loved me and washed me from my sins in your own blood,
and now is my Savior and Redeemer.
Glory be to you, O God the Holy Spirit,
who by your almighty power have turned my heart from sin to God.

O mighty God, the Lord Omnipotent, Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
you have now become my Covenant Friend.
And I, through your infinite grace, have become your covenant servant.
So be it. And let the covenant I have made on earth be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

-Adapted from the United Methodist Book of Worship

The Day After

Benjamin exploring the snow

This tunnel is about 15 feet long

The house after the blizzard

King of the hill

Christmas

We were snowed in all day. It was a great way to spend Christmas - just the four of us.

The fireplace on Christmas morning

The boys letters and cookies for Santa

Getting ready to open the stockings

Taking a time-out for some love

Benjamin and Georgia

The weather outside

Christmas Eve

The snow and wind came as scheduled. We got our two Christmas Eve worship experiences in just in time. Here is my column from tonight. The audio will not be available.

Christmas Eve. It used to be my favorite day of the year. My parents, siblings, and I would take the one block walk to my grandparents. Grandpa got the fire going. We snooped around the Christmas tree to see what package had our name on it. We never formally ate. We just grazed on a smorgasbord of Norwegian food: lutefisk, kringle, lefse, raw oysters, meatballs, and rice pudding. The adults drank some concoction my grandpa mixed together. All I remember is that it was some kind of orange slushy thing that smelled funny. A nut was buried in the rice pudding. Whoever got the nut won a prize. Since I was the youngest, I usually won the prize. Ironically, the prize was a box of chocolate covered cherries, perhaps the only form of chocolate I don’t like.

Then my oldest brother took the stockings down from the fireplace mantle. We dug into our stockings and discovered small toys, books, and loads of sugar. Then I got to deliver the Christmas presents. Meticulously. One at a time. After each present was opened, we saved what could be reused of the wrapping paper and I burned the rest. As the boxes and wrapping paper heated the room, Grandpa gave me stern instructions of what package to deliver next.

As the fireplace cooled down, the presents were all put away, and the dishes were done—we went to church at 11:00 p.m. The little church would be packed full of people. It only happened a couple times a year. We sang Christmas songs, listened to the pastor ramble on, and lit candles as we sang Silent Night. It was a great way to spend a night.

Years later, I still love Christmas Eve. Life is much different now. I’m the pastor that rambles on. It is a busy time for me. But in the busyness, blessedness can be found.

• Not under a tree, but in a manger.
• Not in a catalog, buy in a Holy Book.
• Not in Norwegian food and some smelly orange slush, but in bread and some grape juice.

Christmas Eve reminds me more than anything else about God’s grace. Undeserved merit. It’s nothing we can earn or take. It can only be given and received.

Grace is God’s idea. It is forgiveness from our past. Freedom in the present. Hope for the future. It is how the world began and it is how the world will end.

Christmas is a yearly reminder that God is with us. If we don’t know this, nothing else matters. If we do know this, nothing else matters.

Family, presents, food, hope, grace – enjoy them all and a have a Merry Christmas.

Craig

A Precious Baby

I did two funerals this week. One yesterday and one today. This morning's funeral was for a newborn child who died way too young. I want to share with you a small part of my message this morning:

Paul writes in Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

About twenty centuries ago, God chose to use a baby to give life to the world. And everyone from the skeptic to the saint knows that the world has never quite been the same since. Tomorrow night, billions of people will celebrate the birth of a child who died way too young.

Five nights ago, Caleb was born. Caleb gave new live to your world. The dozen or so of us who were there last Friday night will never look at the world quite the same again.

We touched and we saw the little fingers and toes. We saw one of the most beautiful children any of us have ever seen. We saw the preciousness of human life.

We won’t take life for granted anymore. We will cherish the moments that we have with each other.

Although Caleb is not with us physically, he will remain with us forever.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

David's Third Birthday

David is three today. It's hard to believe! He had a great day.

Simple - Relate : Reconnect

Here are the notes from yesterday's sermon. We are sorry, but for the first time in three years, we had a problem with the recording and an audio recording is not available.

Recognize the importance of relationships

So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. -Matthew 5:23-24

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow. -Norwegian Proverb

The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships. -Anthony Robbins

Be authentically yourself and let the other person authentically be themselves

And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.” But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. -Ruth 1:14-18

Don't smother each other. No one can grow in the shade. -Leo Buscaglia

Be real with each other

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. -James 5:16

Learn from and let go of the past

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. –Philippians 3:13

Relate to others today

So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return. –Matthew 25:13

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? -Stephen Levine

God us with Us

Christmas has its cultural customs. We decorate our trees. We buy presents for loved ones and put those presents under the trees and open the presents on Christmas morning. Radio stations play music that we only listen to in December. Scrooge. Miracle on 34th Street. Santa Claus. Family pictures. Baked goods. Sunday papers that are as thick as Federal Health Care Reform Bills. Christmas cards. A Charlie Brown Christmas. Christmas carols. A couple weeks off from school. Lutefisk and rice pudding. A little extra time with family.

Most of these are good, but I wonder if sometime we are missing the original meaning of Christmas.

Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God is with us.” –Matthew 1:23

The authors of the four Gospels rarely translate words for us. I only remember it happening a few times. But Immanuel is translated from its original Hebrew because the author doesn’t want us to miss this one: God is with us. Those four words—God is with us—either mean everything or they mean nothing. It is the difference between a few weeks in December that make us feel good about humanity and a life that is lived with God’s presence and power.

A number of years ago, early on Christmas morning, I returned home from the church I was serving at the time. The last Christmas Eve service concluded shortly before midnight. I greeted the people as they left and then drove home. Amber and Benjamin were both sleeping. I wrapped Amber’s gift and placed it under the tree. I couldn’t help but smell the fresh pine needles and the sap from the truck of the tree. I then looked at an ornament we have of a manger. It was right in front of my face. It was lost during that Christmas season up to that point. There were too many lights on the tree and too many other ornaments to compete with. There I was, in a holy place. With the busyness of the season, I almost missed it:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. –John 1

God is with us—He always has been and always will be. To the busy parent, the person who is alone, the addict, the hopeless, the hopeful, the dying, the living, the young, the old, the sinner, the saint, the bitter, the broken, the hurting, the proud, the hurter, the helpful, and the helpless—God is with us—full of grace and truth.

My prayer for us is that we don’t let life get in the way of recognizing that the One who gives us life is always with us.

Merry Christmas,

Craig

Disney, Day 9

Pluto and family - This breakfast was so good

Benny and Minnie

David's highlight

Benjamin and Chef Goofy

The boys in the Swiss Family Tree House

Leaving the Grand Floridian

Hanging out in the airport

David taking a nap in the airport

Disney, Day 8

David is not liking this character pictures

The best turkey legs in the world

View from the train

Conductors for one stop

We can't keep the girls away from this kid

Norwegian Christmas Card

No comment

Disney, Day 7

Disney, Day 6

Benjamin and the Princess

Benjamin and the hostess at Restaurant Akershus

The boys and the troll

The pool at Old Key West

More Old Key West

Still more Old Key West

Benjamin practicing being a caddie

Disney, Day 5

The Magic Kingdom early in the morning

Benjamin and Amber racing

Lunch at the Magic Kingdom

Benjamin and Donald

David at the parade

Evening fireworks

Family Christmas

Mickey and Minnie

Benjamin and Donald

Disney, Day 4

It's like Georgia came with us

Mr. Potato Head at Downtown Disney

Goofy boys and Goofy

At the end of a long day

Disney, Day 3

Benjamin enjoying a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Bar

An incredible breakfast at the Polynesian Resort

Benjamin at the Hollywood Studios Parade

Trying to keep David out of trouble. Trying.

David at the end of a long day

Disney, Day 2

Benjamin and Buzz at The Magic Kingdom

The boys hanging out in Toon Town

Our Japanese food for the night at Epcot

The end of a long day

Disney, Day 1

Benjamin at the Detroit Airport

Dining with friends outside at The Old Key West Resort

Tree Roots and Rocks

It was winter wonderland. The three inches of snow from Sunday evening covered the trails and the trees. An innocent white canopy blanketing the earth was a stark contrast to the rugged ground it covered. Platte River State Park looked like a postcard on Monday morning.

The usual residents were out in full force: the deer, the wild turkey, even the raccoon that guards one of the trails I run on. One of the park rangers came up and talked to me as I secured my mittens and hat. Otherwise, I had the park all to myself for a two hour run.

I know the trails at the park like the back of my hand. Most Mondays it is where I run. The snow made it both challenging and fun. On some of the uphill climbs, even with my trail running shoes on, I struggled to gain traction. On some of the steeper, longer downhills, I was part sledder and part trail runner. One time I was even part prayer. The flat sections were business as usual—just a little slower and a little more cushion from the snow.

Two enemies for the trail runner are tree roots and rocks. A sprained ankle on a cold day on an isolated trail accessible only by foot in an empty park would not be a good thing.

The trail looked so inviting. It was so tempting to run fast down the hills. It was tempting to look around and enjoy the scenery. But the trail runner in me knew that my eye had to stay on the trail and I had to always stay under control. The snow covered the rocks and tree roots. Something enticing was also something dangerous.

I watched the trail for small undulations that I knew might be a tree root or a rock. I walked through a few rocky sections of the trail. I got off my feet and slid down a few of the downhills that I knew I probably couldn’t navigate if I was running. I covered only about eighty percent of the distance I usually cover in two hours, but I made it back to my car.

And so it is with sin. It can be hidden. It can be enticing. It can even seem like a good idea at the time.

It is also dangerous. It separates us from God. It separates us from others.

Sin can turn the scared into the shameful, the beautiful into the belligerent, and the holy into hell on earth.

Sometimes in the short-term, sin may seem like a pretty good idea. In the long-term, sin is never a good idea. No exceptions exist to this rule. None.

Watch out for the tree roots and the rocks of life – they are out there all over the place trying to steal from us the very life that God gives us.

Simple - Enough : Reprioritize

Here is this morning's sermon. You will need QuickTime to listen. Listen here.

Control

Characteristics of a controller

1. Controllers have a driving need to run the show and call the shots.
2. Controllers have an inability to trust others.
3. Controllers are fearful of having their flaws exposed and fear of being vulnerable.
4. To keep this anxiety from overwhelming them, controllers try to control the people or things around them.

It is possible to control. It is possible to love. It is not possible to simultaneously control and love.

A biblical alternative to control is service

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. –Matthew 20:28

Those who have learned the power of sincere, loving, and selfless service experience fulfillment in life.

Possessions

There are people who use up their entire lives making money so they can enjoy the lives they have entirely used up. –Frederick Buechner

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. –Matthew 6:24

A biblical alternative to possessions is contentment

Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” –Luke 12:13-15

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. -1 Timothy 6:6-10

Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty. -Socrates

Pride

Pride - φυσιόω – phusio - To inflate or puff up

Pride is an unhealthy love of self.

It is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your useless pride.

A Portrait of the Proud

1. Are you tempted to sacrifice your own well being or that of others in order to maintain a certain reputation?
2. Do you often compromise yourself and what you genuinely feel or believe in to preserve an image?
3. Do you believe that people have less time, interest, affection, or respect for those without high capabilities?
4. Do you feel lost, anxious, or alienated if a conversation moves away from things you can speak knowledgeably about?
5. How do you feel when other people are talking about themselves? Do you find it hard to keep your mind from wandering? Do you get impatient or irritable? Do you want to want to direct the conversation back to yourself?
6. Can your mood drop significantly when you hear that someone has achieved something you haven't?

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you. –C.S. Lewis

Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. –Proverbs 11:2

A biblical alternative to pride is humility

Humble - Ταπεινός – tapeinos – modest and obedient

Humility is thinking of yourself the same way you would think of pretty much anybody else.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. –Philippians 2:5-8

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. -Thomas Merton

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels. –St. Augustine

Prestige

About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. -Matthew 18:1-4

A biblical alternative to prestige is integrity

Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. -Galatians 6:4

If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters. –Alan Simpson

There is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not. –Robert Schuller

Simplicity Continued

We are looking at simplicity during this season of Advent. Richard Foster's book "Celebration of Discipline" has a wonderful section on simplicity. Here are some of his outward expressions of simplicity. By the way - this book was written in 1978 but he seems to capture our current culture with great insight.

David enjoying a simple moment

1. Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
2. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
3. Develop a habit of of deaccumulating. (Exhibit A: Have you ever watched the show Clean House before?)
4. Enjoy things without owning them.
5. Develop a deeper appreciation for God's creation.
6. Look with a healthy skepticism for "buy now, pay later" transactions.
7. Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the kingdom of God.

He begins his chapter on simplicity with the following:

Simplicity is freedom. Duplicity is bondage. Simplicity brings joy and balance. Duplicity brings anxiety and fear.

Releasing Rocks

Here is my column for this week.

Our guest columnist is Jennifer Dukes Lee. She is a former journalist who has worked at the Omaha World-Herald and other newspapers. She is now a mother of two girls and lives on a family farm with her husband and daughters in northwest Iowa where pigs significantly outnumber people. Jennifer and I are childhood friends.

One by one, we dropped rocks at the foot of the cross in a jagged pile of pain. Our rough-hewn burdens had names. Doubt. Fear. Pride. Anger. Envy. Guilt. Jealousy.

It's not easy dropping burdens, for they plead hard to stay. We hear them whisper: "You won't make it without me. You'll pick me up again."Our rocks weigh heavy in our pockets, yet we carry them around anyhow. We find comfort in their familiarity, mistaking their presence for companionship.

And these burdens we carry? They speak in a voice that feigns friendship.Have you heard the voice in your rocks, the voice that suggests you'll never survive without:

The boyfriend, abusing you
The bottle, enticing you
The money, controlling you
The addiction, chaining you
The relationship, ensnaring you

Are you gripped by rocks of doubt, fear, grief or shame? Do you know your rocks by name?

Too often, I trust my rocks more than The Rock who waits to rescue me from the heavy burdens begging to stay.

But the voice of Jesus pleads stronger still in a grand invitation: "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

And so on a Saturday afternoon in Iowa, we clutched rocks in our hands and gave them names. We called them what they were -- not what they pretended to be. We stooped to drop them at the foot of a cross, dumping burdens on a Savior's back, and remembering how He already carried them up a hill that still runs red.

One by one by one, we left our pain in a pile. For good.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. - Helen Lemmel, 1922

God's Grace, it still amazes.

We dropped burdens,
found forgiveness,
sought wholeness and
discovered grace anew.

Thank you Jennifer. Check out her writing on the Internet at www.gettingdownwithJesus.blogspot.com.

In Christ,

Craig