Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:1-3

We spend a lot of time praising God with our words.  Think about the other ways we can praise our God Almighty.

Lenten Devotion

Isn't it interesting how during Lent, the devoted go to church an extra day during the week.  Formerly when I worked in a church, I dreaded Lent, because all the time I spent in worship and at functions became monotonous and strained on my soul.  However, yesterday I finally enjoyed the experience for what it was.  I experienced God. It wasn't some huge event, and its not that I haven't experienced Him in worship during other times, but yesterday was just especially enjoyable.  

It is important that we remember to experience God wherever we may be.  One thing that is really cool about Lutheran Hour Ministries, is that it focuses a lot of its time on how you can spend time with God outside of a worship service.  Either through the meditations of daily devotions, the interaction between men fostered through our Men's NetWork, or the feeling of relief to know that I can help people all around the world know about Jesus without having to leave my current vocation. Lent is supposed to be a time of pondering and thanksgiving.  Yesterday, as I sat with my wife and daughter in a church sanctuary, exemplified both of those aspect of Lent in my mind and soul. 

Pancakes or Waffles?

A fellow LHM staffer showed me a website the other day, because we share an appreciation for the television show "The Office."  This website titled "Soul Pancake" was created by the actor who plays Dwight on "The Office," Rainn Wilson.  If you are at all interested in taking a look, watch the introduction video by Rainn titled, "What is Soul Pancake?"  located here.  The video features Rainn telling us that he wants to have serious discussions about religion and spirituality. 

Finally, someone is suggesting we talk openly about spiriuality and faith.  This opens up a lot of opportunities for the Gospel, if people are willing to talk about spiritual matters.  It used to be in American culture that spiritual topics were taboo and talking about them was a bit of a social stigma.  In the next era, post-modern times, the 21st century, or whatever you want to call it, for the Gospel to advance, Christians need to be well versed in the Bible and know about other people's religions so we can engage others in discussions on faith and religion.  It really goes back to the words of Peter who said "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" 1 Peter 3:15NIV. This is the way to be if you expect the Christian faith to look attractively to any one outside of the Church.  

That being said, the beginning of the previous verse also has some important words to live by.  A place like "Soul Pancake," which promotes the Baha'i Faith, will not tell you that Jesus Christ is Lord.  They will say you can believe what you want, lets just all be friends and help humanity.  Being friends and helping humanity is a good and noble thing and is a very good things for Christians to do in the public marketplace.  However, when I am expected to say that all religions are pretty much the same, that is when a website like "Soul Pancake" can be dangerous to young and weak Christians. They might see all the similarities between faiths, but miss the fact that when all is said and done, the only thing that is important for ones eternal destiny. Doing good, loving God, serving fellow man, and even confessing Jesus was a good person or close to God will not get you eternal life.  Only through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can anyone be saved.  

So as Peter suggests, lets talk and discuss all things spiritual, but always keep Christ in our hearts and be proactive about explaining what motivates our words and actions.  In a world that is less and less Christian, we must be that much more prepared to share our faith with others.

Losing our Religion

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29585222/?GT1=43001

According to a AP article published on the MSNBC website, the number of Americans who claim a religion is on the decline.  What does this mean?  As Christians, an article like this can send us into a deep depression.  I start to ask myself what we, the Church, are doing wrong.  Or are we doing anything wrong at all?  America's slide into a post-Christian status makes many of us uncomfortable, but we are quick to forget that it is God who is in charge.  What we get out of this information is that we can't depend on the status quo to keep the Church alive.  Religion has never been the point of everything we do a church though, the point is to spread the Gospel.  So if we are to take this bitter news and turn it around to see the new found opportunities, I guess we can hope for progress.  However, it isn't going to be an easy transition for the current generation or next generations to switch to a new approach to presenting the Christian faith to others.  Those growing pains will be met with even more distrust and animosity than there is right now in our Church.  My pray, however, is to prepare ourselves for battle and develop new strategies so that we can always have a reason for the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, and so we can express those reasons in gentleness and respect.  Be a witness to what Christ has done for you.

Men's NetWork Gets Noticed

The New Lutheran Laymen’s League?

Posted by Scott on February 24, 2009

In June of 1994 I attended my first Promise Keepers event at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC.  I attended with a group of other LC-MS men from my church; the next year basically the same group attended again.  It is pretty amazing to be part of such a large group of men, who are not there cheering for their team to score a touchdown, but who are intent on being the men God wants them to be.

At the time there were lots of criticisms of Promise Keepers from within the LC-MS.  Mainly those critisms were theological in nature:  PK was filled with “decision theology“, emotionalism, “least-common-denominator” Christianity.  And those same criticisms were directed at Missouri Synod men who attended those events.  I was aware of, and agreed with, most of the theological issues around PK, but there wasn’t a real alternative for those of us who attended.  We tried to follow the PK model and form a men’s ministry, but it soon ran out of steam as many of us had other commitments that took the majority of our time.

Well, 15 years later, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, or at least an arm of the LC-MS, is getting into men’s ministry.  Lutheran Hour Ministries, the evangelistic radio ministry of the LC-MS, has launched the Men’s NetWork.  (I should back up and provide a little LC-MS history.  Men have had a “ministry” in the LC-MS through the Lutheran Laymen’s League, but the primary focus of LLL wasn’t the men in the organization per se, rather it was a support organization for the Lutheran Hour.  The congregation I grew up in had an LLL chapter, but by the time I became an adult, LLL was looked at, for better or for worse, by my generation as the group for one’s grandpa.  It was a service organization, not a ministry to and for men.  End of side trip.)  I friend at church who leads our men’s Bible study — the current extent of our congregation’s men’s ministry — brought this new ministry to my attention a couple of weeks ago, and Jay Winters brought it up in his blog a couple of days ago.

I’m trying to repent of my cyncism, especially entering Lent, so I want to give this new thing the benefit of the doubt.  There are a couple of great features, one being “The Baloney Shop,” where Pastor Ken Klaus, speaker of the Lutheran Hour, does his best impression, though without the evilness, of one of Word Girl’s nemeses — yes, I occasionally watch with my kids (I’m sure WG would love that I used the plural for “nemesis”) — the Butcher, and goes after the foolishess and falicies that Christians have to face.  It is also a place for churches, and individuals, to learn how to get a men’s ministry going, and putting together activities that appeal to men, like fantasy football (runners up in the league, baby!, after a 6-7 regular season).  It has great potential, so I’d check it out.  Seriously.  And that’s no baloney.

Copied from http://delightunderstanding.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/new-lutheran-laymens-league/#comment-60

Vocation

There aren't many opportunities to be a hero, just by doing your job, but that is exactly what happened in New York City (or should I say over NYC) this past January.  On my way home from Arkansas this past weekend, I got stuck in a snow storm  and had a chance to listen to every podcast on my phone.  The television show 60 minutes makes the audio from their show available for podcast download and a few weeks back they had a feature on US Airways Flight 1549 which made an emergency landing into the Hudson River on January 15, 2oo9.

I had a emotional response upon hearing the stories of the pilots and crew of that potentially disastrous experience.  Not only could 155 passengers been killed in the powerless airplanes decent towards America's largest metropolis, but so could have 

many other people in the surrounding buildings.  So how did the crew of that flight transition from people doing their job they have done a million times before into heroes?  By doing their jobs.  They became saviors to the passengers by following the training they had received and hoped never to use.  Some jobs people choose become used to saving lives, for example police officers, fire fighters, and medical professionals.  As Christians, however, we have also been called to be life savers.  Not through any extraordinary means, but by the simple call of living out our vocations and reflecting Christ in our lives.  In this analogy, we don't save anyone's lives, but we do become a source of salvation.  Through Christ's dedication of his calling, all humanity is saved from eternal damnation, however, through our dedication to our calling, we are able to share that salvation with others.

Just as Capt. Chesley Sullenberger and his crew became instant heroes by following the calling God gave them, you may find yourself becoming an instant hero when a co-worker asks you what keeps you going, or why you act with integrity even amongst so much corruption.  Our Lord has called you to your vocation, whether it is in teaching, managing, pastoring, practicing law, parenting, or retailing, but through that vocation your true calling is always be ready to share the reason for the hope that you have in Jesus Christ.  

Photo Source = originally posted to '''Flickr''' as [http://flickr.com/photos/22608787@N00/3200086900 Plane crash into Hudson River