Tomorrow's Offering

Thanks to those of you who prayed for Neil. He is doing much better (I just realized I needed to update that one!). The sickness broke a week ago today. When I asked him what he remembered from the week he said that everything from Monday to Friday was lost. Praises to God (and thanks to the doctors) for healing!

I hope you had a good week. I haven't blogged much--not because I've been too busy. Instead, I've been wrestling with something must haunt every preacher from time-to-time, though I don't hear it mentioned much. Sometimes, as a person who is expected (paid!) to get up in front of people every week and say something, I grow weary of feeling like a gadfly. Fred Craddock says that preachers should remove their "oughts" and "shoulds" from sermons (he is undoubtedly aware of the irony in that statement). I think he's right. Too many "oughts" and "shoulds" don't just wear on the hearer; they wear on the speaker.

"Love God more. Love God more. Do what God wants you to do. Appreciate what God has done. Our culture is fallen. There is a better way."

Phew ... enough. I believe those things, but if a person isn't careful he becomes a "nattering nabob of negativism" (that was a line from Nixon, I think?). I need to plan a sermon series that is just rejoicing. I'm not used to doing that. Maybe Joel Osteen will answer the phone if I give him a call. He probably gets weary in the other direction.

So, for the record: God is good. The world is an amazing and beautiful place. The church is one of God's footholds of grace and truth in a world that needs grace and truth. Your smiling face, your worship of God, your singing, your kind handshakes and hugs will be welcome tomorrow--no matter where you worship.

Tomorrow's sermon is the first of a two-parter. The second part will be preached by Jeff Miller next Sunday. The title, "Better than Jesus, Part 1" is a little misleading. Preaching on John 14 is fraught with difficulty (fraught?!! there's a word worth researching). I will be focusing on Jesus' truth claims as the "way, truth, and light." Jeff will focus next week on the part where Jesus tells us that we will do greater things than he did.

Peace!

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
22 June 2008

Father, we rise up early in the morning and we bless you for your staggering kindness to us. Thank you for your Son; for the pathway he paved, for the truth he proclaimed; for the life that he gave us. Thank you for the nature and character of our Creator, your word, made flesh and living among us.

Honor and praise to your Son for going to prepare a place for us. Honor and praise to your Spirit for staying behind with us; for not leaving us as orphans.

Call us, O Father, from the vain things we chase. Forgive us for making our own safety the center of our lives, when your Son made clear to us the truth that if we try to save our lives we will lose them. Forgive us for making the accumulation of things the center of our lives, when your Son showed us that we cannot serve you and mammon. Forgive us for making our relatives the center of our lives, when your Son said that those who do the will of the Father are his brothers and sisters. Forgive us for making our various lusts the center of our lives when your Son has shown us that the highest life is one that is un-derailed by such things.

By the example of Jesus of Nazareth help us to make you the center of our lives; be our ambition and boulevard both.

Help us to be strong and humble in our proclamation of and living of the truth of a God who loves humanity too much to stand by and do nothing while people cling to the shrapnel of lives destroyed by selfishness, false gods, and foolishness.

Be present with the prayer list people. Give them healing, hope, joy, strength, safety, purpose, and comfort. Be with those of us who aren’t on the prayer list, that we will consider our responsibility to be those who are sick, hurting, sad, depressed, or near death.

Lord, somewhere in the world there is a young man so filled with hate that he is willing to blow himself up, killing others with him. Bless him. Send peace to him. There are others who rejoice when American soldiers are hurt or killed. Bless them with changed hearts and a stable nation. Please return our loved ones safely to us. Bless your world with peace. It will have to come from you. We have failed. Flood your people with your Spirit.

Our world is so noisy, Lord. The shouting politicians, the loud and manipulative commercials, the nagging preachers, hear our unspoken prayers in the too short time of silence:


We break the silence by praying together, with one voice, the prayer your Son taught us:

The Lord’s Prayer