Breaking Blog Silence

Last week I worked exclusively on the dissertation (thanks, Frank*, for preaching for me and thanks, Sam, for Two4Two help!). This week it's dissertation, sermon, and one blog post.

Doctor of Ministry dissertations (at most places) are 5 chapters long. I turned Chapter 4 in last Friday and am working on the final chapter this week. If you're the praying type, I am only too happy to ask you to add that to your prayer list.

I didn't blog last week for two reasons: 1) I really had to get Chapter 4 in by Friday and I needed every little morsel of time, and 2) there isn't much excitement in a week like that, though a couple of blog-worthy moments did arise (when I have time I might type them up, but Chapter 5 looms).

I made it home on Saturday. On Sunday morning we had our Welcome to Grandview class during both hours while Frank did the preaching. On Sunday evening we said goodbye to John and Yvonne, as it was their last Sunday at Grandview. Thankfully, we should still see them plenty. They're just going to First Christian Church where John will be on staff as Minister of Counseling and some other stuff. It's the "other stuff" that always concerns ... I think his official title, like many non-Senior ministers, will be Minister of Shifting Job Descriptions (MSJD, for short).

I have to give a special blog-thanks to Phyllis for stepping into the planning role on such short notice and doing such a fantastic job. Thanks, Phyllis!

We will miss you John and Yvonne! Thanks for sharing your gifts with Grandview.

Entertainment at the goodbye banquet was provided Becky, who always does such a great job of a) lifting the mood of a place, b) adding humor to situations, and c) jabbing tender wounds. If you've never had the chance to be roasted by Becky, I highly recommend it. She was helped by her granddaughter, Norrah.
Entertainment was also provided by Bob Hull. He sang three songs, each appropriate to the occasion. Between Bob and Becky, we had a nice program for saying bye to the Marrs.I'm just inlcuding this picture because I like it. Rollin and Arianna, awaiting Michelle's return from her travels to Gautamala to assist Don and Peggy Orth in cleaning and fixing teeth for people in remote villages.
*Frank is not really what I would call a "blog-reader," but I can thank him even if he won't see it!

Tomorrow's Offering

It won't be in the bulletin tomorrow, but we do have a slide announcing that on Sunday, February 22nd we will say goodbye to the Marrs. I'm calling it:I know ... corny. Oh well, short notice! I hope you can make it. It will be a pot-luck function and the planning is just getting underway. Normally Yvonne would plan this kind of function, but because we're saying goodbye to her, I thought asking her to organize it would be tacky. Phyllis Fox has agreed to lead the task but, as you may know, she's new to Grandview. Any help you can offer will be appreciated.

Now to tomorrow's services. I don't have any of the pastoral prayers yet. I'll add them as they roll in (if I'm back at my computer later today). Tomorrow is the penultimate sermon in the series on Christian maturity. Frank Smith will wrap it up on next Sunday.
We will look, again, at the ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Tomorrow Jesus heals a leper and tells him to keep quiet about it, except for going to the priests to be declared clean.

The man is too excited to follow through with what Jesus tells him to do. Interesting scenario; most of us who don't follow through with Jesus' commands do so out of apathy, not excitement!

This week has been pretty quiet pastorally. Willy B. had eye surgery and while the surgery went well, she wasn't feeling great much of the week. As for other things this week, well, you've already seen the Two4Two post. Yesterday, Deke B., Jason H. and I shot the remaining "Taming the Ancient Wildeor" videos. That was fun. Jason makes a fine Wildeor.

Okay. Back to work on the dissertation.

This just in: Bob Hall's prayer for the 11am service. Enjoy.

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
15 February 2009

We come before you, Lord God, looking for an anchor in a stormy world. All around us the world is busy, the world is chaotic, the world is beautiful and ugly at the same time. We are bombarded by temptations, by sin. We are surrounded by danger. Want and need are everywhere we look. The poor and the despised, the ugly and the infirm, cry out for help. Trust in the world and we are lost. You are our rock, you are our strength, you are our redeemer. In you, we find our peace. We rest upon your unchanging grace; in every high and stormy gale, our anchor holds within the veil.
In you we find our peace, but it’s often on our own terms. We like you Lord, the way we like you. It’s almost like we have our own religion that we need you to fit into. Clear our minds, Lord. Make us right. Help us see you are the God of everything and that you’re with all your followers, all your servants. Forgive us when we put you in a box, forgive us when we pull you out and dust you off and try to wind you up like a toy to please us. Forgive us.
We want to serve you, Lord. We want to do your will and we often try very hard to spread the Good News to every nation. But we also often see one way to accomplish your tasks. We often see OUR way of reaching your goals. When things stand in our way, we lose focus, we get frustrated, we sometimes even give up. God, don’t let us get sidetracked by the world, by our own desires, by well-meaning people, by our fears and phobias. Just as Jesus kept his eyes upon you and his purpose, so help us to remain steadfast to your design.
Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and his righteousness. We know, Father, that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Thank you for the cleansing blood of the Lamb. Thank you for your limitless grace.
Bless our enemies and let them be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb just as we are.
In the silence hear our prayers of despair and of hope, of sadness and of joy…of thanksgiving:


We specifically pray for Lone Oak Christian Church. We ask your blessing on their leadership and especially on their minister, Tad Johnson. Support them as they continue the goal of all Christians -- to deepen and mature. Give them wisdom regarding when, where, and if to build a new building.
We pray for Agape Women’s Services and their mission here in the community. Bless them as they show your unconditional love for the people they serve.
We also pray for Greg and Allison Coley and the entire Globalscope team serving at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand. Help them build the relationships, help them share your love with the students, and help them stay focused on your will.

And now we pray together as Jesus taught us to pray:

Two 4 Two returns!

It's back, and better than ever ... really. Last night was fantastic, from the fellowship time, to the meal time, to the worship time, to the study time. If you see Ryan or Dana, be sure to tell them "Good job" because Two 4 Two continues to be an important part of Grandview's response to the gospel.

Now to some random scenes from last night:

The youth preparing to make the communion bread for Sunday mornings (learning to bake and learning to provide important things for worship).

Dee and granddaughter.

Boys CANNOT resist the urge to make shadow puppets.

The dining area was packed out, and the food was great (thanks to Jennifer and Susan).

Frank enjoying is status as Dee's fiance'.

Jack hitting the carpet ball table.

I love this picture.

Aubrey buying a ticket to Grand Central Station.

Haley and Bethany (Haley wanted me to appreciate her pro-Kentucky, anti-Vol, anti-Gator T-shirt).

Tomorrow's Offering

Things were bit quieter, pastorally, around Grandview this week. We don't have anyone in the hospital right now. As I type the Grandview update (from the Oasis Coffee Shop in JC)the beginning of the warm up is taking place. Most of the week it was just winter.

I don't want to complain about the natural progression of the seasons, so I'll just mention that we've had enough cold and ice to be able to claim full participants in the season.

SuperBowl Sunday was nice, though. I even had the chance to ride to Shady Valley, TN--on roads that seemed to designed for motorcycle joy.

Because I'm not preaching tomorrow, I was able to get more done on my dissertation. I'm going to keep trying to plug-away (immediately after posting this entry). Even without the sermon, though, there was much to be done.

• John Marr announced he will be leaving our staff to join the staff of First Christian Church. We will miss him and we wish him well.
• The new website is getting closer to it's rollout. We just have to get the static pages formed.
• Two4Two was supposed to begin this week but didn't, due to weather. I am still working on the video/teaching focus of the Rendezvous (worship time) portion of Two4Two. We will focus on the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. This will include the introduction of the mythical beast Wildeor. Wildeor is just an ancient word for wild beast and it's where we get our word for wilderness.
• I also raided Maxxie Dunnam for a Lenten sermon series. I won't be using his sermons (I can't do that sort of thing). But his arrangement of the questions of Jesus is really good. So I've planned that course of sermons and made some pics for slides and the upcoming webpage.
• Dr. Bill Gwaltney will be preaching tomorrow. The "Rabbi" as he is called around here, is a fine man and I'm very pleased to have him preaching for us. He will continue our series on Christian maturity. Dr. Gwaltney was recently named alumnus of the year by Hebrew Union University in Cincinnatti. Welcome to Grandview's pulpit, doc!

Tomorrow's prayers will be led by Dirk D, Bob H, and Craig H. Bob H has already given me the 11am service prayer. Enjoy!

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
8 February 2009

Lord of all, we bow down before you in prayer. You are our God and we are your people.
God of Power, you control all that we know and do not know; all that we see and do not see. You make the sun shine, you make the rain fall. You make the fields green. You calm the seas. You quiet the winds. You lift up the righteous and punish the wicked. You have conquered all manner of evil. Demons cower before you. Satan is powerless against you. You are God omnipotent.
God of Healing, you take us, battered and broken by myriad ills and you repair us. By your healing touch, you can make our minds and our bodies, our spirits and our flesh, whole again.
God of Truth, through your word, you share with us the meaning of life. You teach us how to live; you teach us how to witness. Give us the excitement to proclaim your kingdom to all corners of the earth, to all peoples.
God of Sacrifice, through the example of your son, Jesus Christ, you teach us that living a Godly life, living a Christian life does not include the spotlight being turned on us. Sacrifice, true selflessness is focused on others, improving their lives in your name.
God of compassion, you lift us up. We sin and repent, time and again, and you cover us with your grace. Grace upon grace, your love envelops and purifies against even the most disgusting of our actions.
You are our God and we are your people. You are our Father and we are your children and your love is limitless.
Bless our enemies, Lord, and let them feel your power.
Now, in silence, we come before you. We clear our minds of the clutter around us. We focus ourselves on you and we pray. We pray for those who need healing, we pray for those who need comfort, we pray for new life – both physical and spiritual, we pray that although we will always fall short, we remain steadfast, we persevere, we persist because our ultimate goal is to serve you and love you in the same way you, through Jesus Christ, love us.
Help us every day, Father, to model ourselves after the sacrificial lamb, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Focus our attentions, not inwardly toward ourselves like the world tells us to do, but outwardly toward your creation spreading the good news of the risen savior.
We now lift up to you our brothers and sisters at the West Walnut Street Church. Specifically, we mention their minister, Jeff Doud, and their efforts to inviting those who don’t have a church home to find a place with them.
Bless the Community Groups around the area that we support. Bless their workers, their leadership, their volunteers and their efforts. Help us give them the aid they need.
And now we pray together as Jesus taught us to pray:

New Jack Installed!

Dr. Jack Holland (an all around good guy) was installed today at Emmanuel School of Religion as full professor. He is professor of Christian Counseling. I don't think I've mentioned on the blog that I'm on the trustee's board at ESR (as of the Fall of '08). I had the honor of representing the board in the ceremony.

Jack did a great job. His message did a good job of joining theory and rubber-meets-road practice.

Congratulations, Jack.

Greers, Grandview, and Games

I didn't make it to the youth party for the big game, but I received these pictures in my email this morning. The Greers have faithfully hosted this thing for several years (and, trust me, this many youth can take a toll on your house!). I like the pictures and wanted to share them with the blog church.

Here the whole crew dons the 3-D glasses for the big pre-half-time show. It's a good thing The Boss wasn't in 3-D during the half time show ... because, well, I love ya' Bruce ... but it may be time to reinvent yourself. Sometimes he looked amazingly agile for his age, other times he looked like he was waiting for the Motrin to kick in.Speaking of reinventing yourself, here's Ryan looking spiffy.
I don't know if they're watching the games or the commercials at this point, but only one person looks truly impressed!

Today's Offering

It's been a busy week around here. Lots of hospital style visits and follow-up. Rollin R's father died this past week, Fred N is in the hospital this morning, Neal V fell and busted his knee cap, Judy N spent time in the ER this week (is home now), little Parker C had a seizure and wound up in the PICU, and that's just the stuff off the top of my head this morning. You are welcome to pray for them all.

The sermon this morning will be my second in a row without any funny-ish anecdotes. Sorry! Sometimes a sermon doesn't lend itself to those things. I've never figured out if the funny story quotient is more determined by the topic or by the mood of the sermon-writer.

We will look at Mark's accounts of (or lack thereof) Jesus as a teacher. Mark's gospel often calls Jesus "teacher," but includes very little of Jesus' teaching words.

Today's prayer people are Dirk DiSantis (welcome, Dirk! @ 9:30, Bob Hall (welcome back, Bob) @ 11, and Craig Hardy continues to carry the load at the Table. Below are the prayers of Bobby and then Dirk.

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
1 February 2009

11am Service:
God of peace, God of creation, you control all. The sun that shines upon us, the cold that makes us bundle up, the wind that makes us seek shelter, the rain that falls on each of us, they are your creation and we are in the middle of it all.
We thank you for the Holy Scriptures, words of life, words of truth. In them Jesus speaks with authority, personal authority, Godly authority, and he acts swiftly, strongly, he knows what is right and addresses evil with the power of your name.
This is how we want to be, too. We want to be like Jesus. We want to be righteous. Our hearts aren’t pure by any means, but our intentions are often good, often lofty, often selfless. Our intentions…so often we talk a good game, but when it comes time to stand up against evil, we shrink away. When it comes time to acknowledge you and your kingdom, we find excuses, we are busy, we have other priorities…sometimes even inside the church.
Satan, himself, recognizes your greatness. Demons shriek and cry in your presence. They know where the true power lies, but we fool ourselves. We say that we follow you and then we go off like little children and focus on us.
Thanks be to You, O God. Thank you for your love, your forgiveness, that when we go off, you wait eagerly for our return. Thank you for your Son, Jesus the Christ, whose perfection was manifested in both word and deed. Thank you for his teachings, thank you for his strength, thank you for his compassion and his grace. His life and teachings continue to bless us daily. Help us become mature Christians, loving God, let our words and our deeds reflect each other. Let our words and deeds reflect Jesus Christ. Help us be people of action, people who know you and know your will and allow it to guide us.
Bless our enemies, Lord. Let them see your strength and power. Let them feel your love.
Turn your face toward us, Father. In the silence, we bring to you our Thanksgivings for you are a mighty God; we bring you our sorrows because you are a gentle God; we bring you our weaknesses and failings because you are a loving God; we lay before you our sins, because you are a merciful God.

Thank you for the mature Christians who serve your kingdom here and around the world. Bless the Downtown Christian Church. Bless them as they seek to serve you in word and deed. Bless their leaders and bless their ministries. Shine your light upon our missionaries, Lord, and let them know you are with them through their trials and joys. Allow your love to shine on them through us.
And now we pray together as Jesus taught us to pray:

9:30 am service:
Most gracious heavenly Father, Lord of all creation, we gather together before you now with humble spirit. We praise you and exalt you Father, for you are our strength and our song. Each day we have the privilege to behold the great and awesome wonders of your works with our own eyes. We get to experience the joy that comes from basking in your blessings. Thank you for these gifts.
God we offer ourselves in service to you, and we pray for your guidance. Grant us the courage to confess our sins and to seek your grace and forgiveness. And let your Spirit guide us in everything that we do and say. Integrate our actions, our behaviors and our words, let them be harmonious so that every single aspect of our lives is a reflection of your grace and love.
We desire to extend the good news of your kingdom to all people as you have commanded. Father use us here at home, or anywhere in the world, to seek out those who are living a life outside of Christ’s salvation. Instill in us a passion for reaching out to others in Christian love, so that many will come to know you.
We thank you for Johnson City’s Downtown Christian Church. We pray for your blessing on their ministry, their congregation, and their minister Eddie Fines. We pray too for those missionaries who have answered the call to go far away from home, who have left friends and family behind, in order to serve as you have called them. Please bless their ministry, and provide them with health, safety and security.
And though it may feel difficult, we pray with sincerity that you will bless our enemies. Let them know your love, because true peace is found only in your presence.
God please provide comfort against our pain; and grant us peace and strength against our suffering. You know so well the struggles each of us are dealing with, the problems within our families, our church, our community, our country, our world. Some are much greater than others. But your unfailing love is our comfort, and so we bring all burdens to you now, and lay them at your feet in this silence.
Guide our steps in the important work planned for us while we live our lives here on earth. Reveal your will for us so that our service brings glory to you almighty God.
Now we pray together using the prayer Christ taught us:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
They kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, Amen

Tomorrow's Offering, Pt. 2

Elder Lorna has submitted her prayer for tomorrow. Thanks, Lorna!

Enjoy:

Lord of all nations, we as citizens of your kingdom come before you this morning a diverse people, yet united in our acknowledgment of you as creator, redeemer and sustainer. You, who are three, yet one, have given each of us unique gifts to extend your kingdom here in Northeast Tennessee. You have called us to leave behind childish and petty disagreements and focus on encountering each other with words of healing and encouragement. You have called us to join together to reach out to those beyond our congregation with a glimpse of what your kingdom can be. We thank you for leaders who motivate and prepare us for works of service and lead us in toward a unity of faith.

We are always mindful that you and your kingdom claim first loyalty in our lives, yet we also find ourselves as citizens of an earthly nation of equally diverse people. We thank you for allowing us to live in a country which has just witnessed a peaceful transfer of power. We pray your special blessings on all new leaders of our congregation and of our nation. We pray that those who now hold the authority to make decisions which affect our lives will resist the temptation to let their power become pride or disregard for those they serve. Give our leaders and us the wisdom to listen to each other. May they and we chose faith over fear, compassion over violence, and common ground over partisanship and self-interest. We long for a world of righteousness, justice, and peace, yet we know those ideals will not happen in our world until they first happen in our lives.

Invigorate, heal, strengthen, and encourage those who are sick, struggling, or sad. Give us the hearts of servants so we might minister to those on our prayer list. Give your protection to those who are risking their lives to protect us. Give a peaceful death to those whose time to die has come. Give us hearts to see you in those we call our enemies. Give us the grace to realize that they, like we, are sinners in need of forgiveness.

We pray for our sister churches. Today we especially ask your blessing on Walnut Christian Church and on their minister, Tim Carlson. We ask that their youth group be nurtured as they help form the life and future of that congregation. We seek your blessings on those involved this week with IHN, both those of us who serve and those families to whom we minister.



Now hear us as we pray together as we have been taught: 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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

Tomorrow's Offering

We continue to focus on Christian maturity during Epiphany. I don't have any prayer to post today. Sorry. My prayer writers don't get me copies in advance (if they want to, I'll be happy to post them!). We'll begin something new in the prayers tomorrow. I want us to be praying for other churches in the area. I contacted Tim Carlson at Walnut Christian Church and let him know that we would be praying for them tomorrow. I also asked if there was anything public and specific we could include in our prayer. He said their youth program is going really well. So, we rejoice with Walnut.

With the cold and ice receding like my hairline, hopefully we'll have a good turnout for worship tomorrow. The title of the sermon will be "Growing Up: Becoming Leaders" and I'll be looking at the call of the disciples.

In lieu of the prayer, here's the intro to my sermon. Peace!



Can you see Abraham, standing outside the city of Ur? His flocks are covered by their rising, visible, breath in the morning air as they prepare to leave Ur with him. His possessions are loaded and ready, all on the backs something or someone. If you look closely, you’ll notice the look he gives Sarah. She sits on a beast of burden, bundled, in order to keep the chill from settling in her bones; next to her weariness.

Abraham feels a twinge. You know the twinge. It’s the one you get after you’ve decided to do something risky. It’s that tiny spot deep in your gut, sharp and steely, that reminds you of all the times you’ve been wrong about things, even when you were sure you were right.

Watch Abraham as he looks to the empty morning sky, no clouds, no remaining stars. He speaks to a God he cannot see, “But if I haven’t heard you right, we’re all dead.”

It’s one thing to trust yourself to God’s reckless call; it’s quite another to trust your wife, your wealth, and your home.

Can you see Moses, standing on the shore of the Red Sea? A mass of people, his people, are standing behind him. They have been through so much; through generations of slavery and abuse. Next to Moses is his brother. In front of him is an impassable body of water. Bearing down on him and his people is the most powerful army he has ever known. The army is angry and desperate and ready to attack.

Watch Moses look at the mass of people he has led into this mess. His eyes don’t look boastful in this grand moment; they look worried. Watch Moses as he looks to a sky that is filled with ominous and angry clouds, and as he speaks to a God he cannot see, “Did I hear you right? Should all of these people die because of me?”

Little Thoughts ... none worth their own post.

Poor Judgment...On Tuesday I took my youngest with me to look at animal costumes for an upcoming Two4Two video shoot. She was out of school. She began the snow day by getting sick, but by 4pm she seemed to be feeling great. I decided to stop at the Harley-Davidson shop on the way home from the costume store. I thought it might be fun to look at expensive machinery I can't afford (well, I could afford it, but I would have to live in a shack and eat mac and cheese...which may explain why some Harley riders look like they do). In I walked with my sweet, little, 10-year-old daughter. We looked at one bike that seemed to have more chrome than surface area. It was $28,000 (that's $14,000 a wheel). We decided that if we were going to buy one, we would buy the new fatboy. Low to the ground. Matte black finish. It looks like a piece of art.

The salesman looked at my daughter and said, "You want a poster?" "Uuhh...sure," she said, not really wanting a poster, but wanting not to disappoint him. He gave her a shiny, black, tube with a rubber band. When we got into the car she opened up the poster. It had a sleek, black Harley on it.

Oh...it also had a skinny, suggetive, girl who might be 9 years older than the girl who was holding the poster in my passenger seat. The girl was perched on the bike like an angry cat in heat.

Think I'll stick to the Kawasaki shop.

Scrubs...I've spent a couple of hours in a doctor's office over the past week. I haven't been sick. I was participating in drop-off and pick-up duty.

The experience made me feel crumudgeonly. I didn't like incessant the cheering, screaming, and clapping on the talk show that was so loud it squeezed all conversation out of the tiny waiting room. I also thought that most of the people working in the office just looked sloppy.

When did the medical community decide that thin pajamas would inspire patient confidence? Take the girl who grabs a file, opens the door, shouts a name over the din of the television, looks at the incoming patient with "I-want-to-get-off-work" eyes, takes the patient's blood pressure, tells him to wait in another room, and then drops the file in an acrylic wall-mounted file holder (then repeats the process) . Does this woman really need to be wearing frumpy scrubs, covered with an oversized UT hoody? Really? Does she get splattered with anything except "Wow. It's cold out today!"?

To be fair, two or three of the nursing staff were able to wear scrubs and still look professional. Most of them, though, looked like they either wanted to get fired; or get a big bag of chips and watch the television in the lobby.

Apologies...That's enough grumpy old man for one post. On the happier side, the cold snap didn't seem so bad to me this year. I don't know why. It's been bug-killing cold out for over a week now, and that's okay.

We didn't cancel church last Sunday, despite the ice. I don't regret having services, but I need to make sure to communicate to people that if they suspect it's too icy or snowy, they have Aaron Wymer's blessing to stay home (feels wierd to write that...why would anyone care if I permitted them to stay home?). When we need martyrs, we'll call. Until then, be safe.

We did have four people from Grandview fall on the ice Sunday morning. In each case they fell at home when they were heading out the door (or walking the dog). They are bruised, but fine.

Prayers...Cindy's grandfather is in the hospital this morning. If you think of it, say a prayer for him. Cindy got home at 3:30am after taking him to the ER last night. I should take some coffee by her office.

A Sneak Peek

The number of loyal blog readers is dwindling. Alas ... this thing may run out of steam soon. But that's OK. It has served a good purpose and I'll keep it going for a least a while longer. If nothing else, it's a good exercise for me.

As a reward for coming to this page today, I offer you a view of the animoto presentation that we're going to open our "State of the Church" meeting with on Sunday night. I like how it turned out. What surprised me most was how much good stuff happened at Grandview last year.

I really wasn't sorry to see 2008 go, but when you stop and put together positive pictures from the year, you get a new appreciation for it. We really are blessed at Grandview.

Enjoy. It's about 4:30 in length. Thanks to the Isaac Schade Band for the background music.

The Gator Nation Rejoices

It's time for your least favorite blog entry, but (hopefully) you're getting used to it

The Gators are BCS Champs!!!!

If you want to see more pics of the game (and I know you do), just click on the picture and it will take you to GatorSports.com.

Despite the Gator victory, there is some question as to who the best team in the country is. Some say USC, Texas, or Utah. They all have good arguments. USC's loss wasn't worse than Florida's loss. Texas' loss to Tech was really close. Utah didn't lose.

Great. Congratulations to all of those teams. If I were a fan of your team I would agree with you (I really would). But the schools all agreed to these rules and they happen to have worked in Florida's favor.

I comfort myself with the thought that out of all of those schools, only Florida's president, Bernie Machen, has publicly lobbied for a playoff system. He was laughed out of SEC President meetings for doing it last year, but at least he spoke up.

If your college president will join him, maybe we can get a true playoff and be done with the BCS system. Until then, we live with the system we've got. Sorry USC, Texas, and Utah.

Oklahoma impressed me. Kudos to the opponent for being fast, tough, and relentless.

Go Gators.

Embarrassment

I'm working on the sermon for next Sunday. I will be mentioning "embarrassment" as a key element in our Christian maturation. So I decided to find some embarrassing moments.

This one takes the cake. This happened in 2004 when a children's group invited a DEA agent to come into the classroom to speak about guns. The agent, Lee Paige, says "I'm the only one in the room that I know of who is professional enough to carry a Glock .40."

Then he literally shoots himself in the foot. You can watch the whole thing if you want, but the action is kind over after he shoots himself. He tries to play it off.

Tomorrow's Offering

I've been a baaaad blogger. I haven't told you that Cindy's grandfather returned to New Jersey not long after he moved in with us. I also didn't tell you that he re-returned to Johnson City on Christmas Eve and is now living in an assisted living facility here in town. So, welcome back to Pop. We're glad to have you here.

I'd be lying, though, if I said the transition has been or continues to be smooth. It's hard to leave your home of over 50 years. Prayers are welcome.

Also, Meg has returned from the Rose Bowl Parade. We got to see her, if only briefly, on the HGTV coverage. She had a fun trip and we're glad she's back, safe and sound.

Tomorrow's sermon ends the Christian season for us. I'll be preaching on Ephesians 1:3-14 and the fact that God has planned our adoption from before time. It will be an attempt at driving home the broad picture of faith that Paul espouses in this passage.

Tomorrow's prayer people are Kevin Harkey (9:30), Craig Hardy (Table), and Bob Hall (11am). His prayer is dutifully and wonderfully ready. It follows:

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
4 January 2009

We come before You, most honored Lord, in deep appreciation for what You have done for us, what You have done for the entire world. You are our Creator, You are our provider. You have given us life. You have given us each other. All we have is from You, our possessions, our friends and family, our very lives. Blessed be Your name.

Father, You loved us so much that You offered us salvation through Your glorious grace, the glorious grace and truth found in our savior, Jesus Christ. In him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us.

And as we have accepted You, You have adopted us into Your family, the family of God…now we are not just one of Your creation, but one of Your children. We are not alone. We are not left to our own devices. Instead, we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Through the blood of the Lamb, You give us the opportunity to matter. Through Your unconditional love, we can share the joy of being a part of Your family

Being one of Your children is a privilege, not a right and we know can’t earn it. We also know that with privilege comes responsibility, the responsibility to live right lives, the responsibility to take care of Your resources, the responsibility of caring for our brothers and sisters Here and around the world, the responsibility of spreading the Good News to all the reaches of the earth so that all might live for the praise of His glory.

Forgive us of our sins. Forgive us when we fail You and thank You for Your grace upon grace.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the silence, hear our prayers of penitence, our prayers of hope, our prayers for those in need:



We pray for 2009 with all the possibilities it holds. We pray for peace. We pray for reconciliation. We pray for tolerance. We pray that Godly goodness prevails, Give our leaders -- our president and other world leaders, as well as our local leaders -- the wisdom of restraint, the wisdom of discernment.

And now we pray together as Jesus taught us to pray:

Tomorrow's Offering

Advent is over and the 12 Days of the Christmas Season are upon us. Special thanks go to David Roberts for preaching this Sunday. Christmas week can be hectic and it really helps to have his expertise in the pulpit (as many other attest, he's been preaching somewhere almost every Sunday lately).
This is a pic of one of the practices for the Christmas Eve service. I really enjoyed the music as we tried to blend in a little more of an Appalachian sound. I don't know how others felt about it, but I thought it was fantastic.

I need to finish the puzzle we started in Advent. If you look at it just right you see a stylized version of the nativity. Joseph stands tall behind the manger, while Mary leans toward her son. On the far right of the pic you see three figures bearing gifts. An angel stands behind Joseph. And two shepherds kneel from the left side of the picture.Another view:

We only have two services this Sunday. The Table is on furlough until next week. Bob Hall is the prayer guy for the 11am service (see prayer below). I'll pray in the 9:30 service. That prayer is after Bob's:

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
28 December 2008

He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed…. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
Loving God, You sent us the baby Jesus, the little Christ child, so soft, so meek, so mild…the Lamb of God brought to earth as a baby. We thank You for this Advent season, the time of anticipation; it is a great tradition, and it culminates in the remembrance and celebration of this great event of God in the form of man. Thank You, Father, for the Christmas Story.
Most of us feel so good during the Christmas season. We reconnect with friends and family, we exchange gifts, we take time off from work to relax. We read beautiful scripture, listen to some of the most beautiful songs and sing some of the best carols ever written. We honor You as we honor the Christ-child. But then the Christmas season is over and Advent winds down. We put away the holiday trappings and look to a new year. We make resolutions and once again face the challenge of the gospel.
Tell us, Father, is the gospel easy or is it hard? Surely, through the blood of the lamb, You have put salvation in our grasp. You offer eternal life through Jesus Christ and we accept. Thank You for the grace that allows this simple, but meaningful exchange to occur.
Accepting You seems so easy, but living the Gospel, the gospel of the lamb led to the slaughter, the savior oppressed and afflicted for our namesake, seems so very hard; the path is sure, but it is uneven… Satan seeks to undo us at every opportunity. We often fail, but we must never give up. We fight, get beat, and strengthened by You, rise and fight again. Give us the dedication, wisdom, and endurance needed to live the life, to follow Your word, to stand up.
We can’t predict the future, Lord; we don’t know what will happen today, tomorrow or next year. What we do not doubt is Your endless love. Thank You for that love and help it engender in us the strength to commit our total lives, our complete beings, our minds, bodies, and souls to share the peace that only You can bring, to work tirelessly doing good, not for ourselves and our own recognition but to glorify You, to help others hear the good news and share in the joy known only by Your people.
Bless our enemies, Father, and let them know Your love.
In the silence, we contemplate the Christ-child, recognize Your gifts, try to fathom our responsibilities and thank You for Your constant care in good times and bad:

We remember before You those who do not find this holiday season to be a pleasant time in their lives – our brothers and sisters who are in pain, in mourning, estranged from family, separated from loved ones. Comfort them, God, and let them know the peace only You can give.
And now we pray together as Jesus taught us to pray:


Here is Aaron's prayer:

God of steadfast faithfulness, who continues to pursue, to love, and to pour out your Spirit on all flesh, accept this offering we make to you today. Our worship, our prayers, and our attendance here is a response to your grace. Your grace shines so wonderfully in the face of your Son, Jesus of Nazareth. We remember him this morning as a baby in a manger. We know he won’t stay that way. We know that we will need to grow up in our faith and our commitment, just as he modeled for us. We know that he will teach great things and inspire great sacrifice and will change the world forever.

But this morning we pause to admire the plainness and power of your plan. We admire how covert you are; how your message can be too simple for the brightest minds, too humble for the proud, too meek for the powerful, too loving for the vengeful. We admire that you included those sweet servants, Mary and Joseph. We admire that you invited the shepherds. We admire that you invite us along on this journey even though we are cracked, broken, and hurting.

Forgive us our sins, we pray. We need that forgiveness so that we can more fully participate in this project of bringing your light of righteousness and justice, grace and peace, joy and service into this world. Forgive us refusing to consider the broader implications of the message of Christmas; for forgetting that you mean to infuse all of life with your great purpose and power.

As we prepare to pack away images of the baby in the manger and store them in dark places for another year, let your message find the dark corners of our soul and take root and grow ever larger until the branches of our souls become a resting place for others.

O God, what would change in our lives if we would truly embrace the message of Jesus? We pray that you would speak to us in the silence and challenge us:

silence

We celebrate. We rejoice. We proclaim that our God has won a great victory and that nothing is impossible for our God! Please be as present as we can stand in this service today—and enlarge our souls so that we can know you better and better.

Bless the missionaries we support. Bless all those around us who live the love of the gospel in the lives of the poor and the homeless, the rich and the powerful, and in the lives of those who suffer. Give comfort to those who grieve in this season. Give strength to the weak. Help those of us who spent too much on Christmas presents to remember the joy of simplicity and the wise stewardship of the resources you have given. Give your traveling mercies to our family members who are on their way to Pasadena. Protect those who are in harm’s way for our sake. Bless our president, the one who is leaving office and the one who is entering. Guide world leaders into the paths of righteousness, justice, and peace. And, as always, according to the example of the baby grown and hanging on a cross, bless and forgive our enemies.

We pray these things in Jesus name, even as we join our voices in the prayer he taught us:

Merry Christmas!

This is probably my last post before Christmas. So, Merry Christmas to my blog-family!

I took this picture this morning as I was heading into our morning prayer time. This is the upper foyer of the church and we were surrounded this morning by a grand view, indeed.
I rarely have pictures of my wife on the blog, so I wanted to include this one from Sunday night's Christmas Jazz gathering at Grandview. (thanks to Lorna for snapping the picture and sending it to me).
I also had the chance to mix with our Grandview family (again, thanks to Lorna for the pic).
The music was wonderful, as always. Garry and Carrie seem to enjoy singing as much as we enjoy listening. Joel on the keyboards is a natural jazz play and we rounded out the musicians with Jeremy (we borrowed him, but he's a not a ringer, he grew up at Grandview) and his brother Daniel. Thanks for the great music.

Not everyone wants to be on camera!

Last, but not least, this is a nice of picture of me and Anna on her birthday (this past Sunday!). She is now officially a teenager. Happy Birthday, Anna. You are a wonderful and beautiful daughter!

Tomorrow's Offering

Tomorrow we put the puzzle together (not that anybody is too concerned about it either way!)


This week our advent/anticipation theme will give way to full-on Christmas. Tomorrow's sermon will focus heavily on Joseph, the husband-to-be of Mary. The nature of righteousness and faith are expounded in this man's actions toward God, Mary, and Jesus.

At this point only Bob Hall has sent me his pastoral prayer for tomorrow, so I offer it to you as a way of preparation for worship. Peace!

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
21 December 2008

God of peace, You are firmly in control of our universe. You are so almighty that You need not concern Yourself with Your earthly creation, yet You trouble Yourself with the birds of the air. You are so firmly in control that You give us the freedom to turn our backs on You. You are so loving that You wait patiently for us to return to You each and every time we stray.
Forgive us.
Help us be faithful.
Help us be righteous.
Help us seek out good.
God of peace, we regularly experience problems in our walk with You. Sometimes when faced with weighty matters, we wonder what to do, just like Joseph must have done. Sometimes our problem isn’t that we don’t know what to do, but that we just don’t have the strength do it. Sometimes our problem is that we doubt You care, doubt You are involved, doubt that we matter to You…perhaps even doubt You exist.
Thank You for the gif t of doubt. Thank You also for the gift of faith because we really can’t truly have one without the other.
There are so many things, so many gods, so many ideas that we can believe in, but there is only one true God, not a distant, remote God, but THE God who so loved us that he sent his son to save us.
Help us to focus on what You would have us do. Help us seek out wisdom revealed to us through Your Holy Word. Help us seek out wisdom shared with Godly friends and family, perhaps even Godly strangers.
Give us the Faith of Joseph. Give us the strength to make the leap to faith…some call it folly while others call it a virtue…Let us call it a gift.
Bless our enemies.
In the silence, we offer our thanks, we lift up our concerns, we call You God Almighty:


We pray for those organizations in our community that address the needs of Your people. Bless Agape Women's Services, Appalachian Christian Camp, Higher Ministries, Interfaith Hospitality Network, Friends at John Sevier, the Salvation Army.
And now we pray together as Jesus taught us to pray:

A Long 45 Seconds

This video shows how public speaking can go wrong. You may not have time to watch it (it's almost five minutes long), but I'll briefly comment it. The wife of Gator nemesis, and FSU football coach, Bobby Bowden was asked to present her husband with an award.

From the video she appears to be a lovely lady and faithful wife. You can also tell, from Bobby Bowden's reaction shots, that he is worried for her. It's kind of hard to watch at times. She is not practiced at public speaking and gets lost in her notes a bit (a lot).

I put it on the blog because I have felt exactly the way she feels up there. It's that moment when I realize, "Oh no ... this isn't going to work the way I had hoped." Sometimes I have dreams where I get into a spot like that and there is simply no pulling out.

I have never felt like giving Bobby Bowden a hug and telling him everything is okay ... until watching this.

Tomorrow's Offering

I was sent this interesting little video. I offer it to you without comment, except that it really can be awkward to visit a church the first time. This video captures that experience remarkably well:



On to the service for tomorrow ....Tomorrow is the third week of Advent. The sermon title is "The Anticipation of Lions". I have been looking at King Herod a good bit this week and his reaction to the news that a new "King of the Jews" might have arrived in Palestine. The Magi were a harbinger of good news gone bad (in Herod's hands).

The pastoral prayer returns this week, thanks to Bob Hall. He has generously allowed me to preview his 11am prayer and what I received freely I pass on to you.

Prayers of the Church for Grandview
14 December 2008

Loving God, we come before You full of anticipation…anticipation of this child, who has been born the King of the Jews. We are full of anticipation for the prince of peace whose star the wise men observed at its rising. We are full of anticipation for the Son of Man whose incarnation did not involve the subtraction of deity, but the addition of humanity. We are filled with joy as we prepare for the coming of the Christ-child, the child to whom the wise men presented their gifts.

But what can we offer You, dear God….what could we have that You would want? We obey Your Word and offer You our love, our adoration, our obedience, our service to Your people, to the least of these.

We come before You Lord, with anticipation of better lives…better lives rooted in the Good News…better lives directed toward others and not ourselves…better lives focused on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We love You, Father.

We look ahead with anticipation to the arrival of the Baby Jesus, the little holy one, so meek and mild, so perfect in his plain settings….God incarnate, yet fully human. We adore You, Father.

We brighten up in anticipation of Your blessings, blessings not of worldly riches, but spiritual gifts…wisdom, discernment, empathy, love. We honor You, Father.

We anticipate the 2nd coming, our reuniting with You in perfection known only because of Your grace. We long to hear You breathe the words “well done, good and faithful servant”; we relish the thought of Your delighting in us and with us. We lay our lives down before You, Father.

Use us.

Use us to bless our enemies…to remove the barriers that keep them from knowing You, from experiencing Your grace.

And now, in the silence, our prayers turn to a multitude of different thoughts from sadness to joy, from conflict to peace, from trouble to calm:



We pray Your blessings on our missionaries, Your emissaries in foreign lands. Bless the Coleys, the Freelands, the Headens, the Hillmans, the Nyadors, the Veals, and the Orths. Refresh the McDades in their time with us. We also remember before You the Jacksons and the Colemans as You prepare then to follow Your call.

And now we pray together as Jesus taught us to pray:

This and That

The advent "Ancticipation" series continues. I've kind of liked these sermons. The first Sunday's sermon was "The Anticipation of Heaven," and was an attempt to look at the unfolding plan of God through the eyes of angels. Yesterday's sermon was "The Anticipation of Outsiders," and was an attempt to look at the unfolding plan of God through the eyes of people who were considered marginal by their society (Mary and the shepherds).

I also like the "blocks of wood" puzzle that will come together through out the season. The idea is to create at least a little anticipation as we await the true start of the Christmas season.If it's obvious to you what that puzzle will become, please keep it to yourself!
(Thanks to Peggy Root for the idea and to Roger Allman for making the "puzzle").

If you click on the picture below (don't bother) you will see that Bojangles Chicken is advertising gift cards for Christmas on their marque. Finally! One stop Christmas shopping. If you're on my Christmas list, get ready for a TASTY day after Christmas!

OK, so my iPhone doesn't have zoom, but if you enlarge this picture you will see the buck that's been hanging out in my back yard. Pretty cool. The top left corner of the yellow "Topper" sign points to it.

The girls discovered the joy of the Victrola this year while we decorated the Christmas tree. It was fun to listen to recordings that were over 100 years old.

OK, that' s it for now. Back to work!

Joe

Now to the funeral I did in Indiana earlier this week...

I knew Joe because he came to work for my dad right out of high school. When Joe graduated from Ben Davis HS he was done with school forever. I don't know if he ever thought about going back, but I suspect he would have considered it a waste of time.

If Joe wanted to do something he just figured out how to do it. He was really smart in the areas that interested him. Mechanically, he figured out how to make things work.

I remember one of the jobs we worked on (for blog purposes we'll call it the DogBag Company). DogBag bought a steel tower of some kind (radio tower maybe?) to be disassembled, moved, and reassembled at DogBag, Inc. DogBag sent one of their engineers to watch the disassembling process and to mark all of the pieces in order to get it back together properly in its new place.

The engineer came up to Joe as the tower was being reconstructed and said, full of smiles and tentative hope, "You'll cover me on this right?" He meant, "I have no idea how this thing goes back together. Can you keep me from getting fired?" Joe protested in a way that meant "yes, I'll take care of it" (construction language doesn't work the same as minister language, and I'm not just talking about vulgarities).

In what was to be my last week of working in the field for Wymer Construction (the last week of summer before my senior year in college), we made it memorable. We were adding onto a church building in Mooresville, Indiana. The building was to expand in every direction. On the first day of pouring concrete we added slabs along two entire sides. That was the first "L". On the next day we poured the concrete to complete the square around the building. But disaster ensued. A heavy rain came after we had poured the second slab. Tension was high. If a long rain hits before a slab is set it can ruin everything. We sat inside the building watching the rain come down.

"Ok, guys," came Joe's words of instruction, "might as well get an early lunch, 'cause once this rain stops we're gonna be busy."

We made a break for the trucks. I ran through the rain as fast as I could, with my eyes almost closed and my shoulders hunched. I ran across the hardened pour from yesterday. Then, as I ran, I felt something different beneath my feet and I heard Joe and my Dad and my Uncle Phil yelling, "HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY!!!!!" (their voices were sharp, filled with complete indignation and scorn).

I stopped. I looked down. My feet were sunk in the fresh pour, making a very bad situation even worse. In my hurry I had misjudged where yesterday's slab stopped and today's slab started. The horror of that moment! I could only console myself with the thought that nobody at the University of Florida would know about this.

On a job site, though, everybody does something bone-headed sooner or later. That same week Joe had his own special moment. He had rigged a safety handle on the trial machine (it's like a big gas powered fan blade that smooths concrete ... it has a long handle that the operator holds with both hands). As he worked the slab he bumped a floor bolt and lost control of the handle. Because he had rigged the safety, though, it didn't shut down. The handle start spinning like the Tazmanian Devil on the old cartoons. The thing was unstoppable. It boogered the concrete floor as it waddled and spun it's way off the slab and into the surrounding yard. Someone had the bright idea to lasso it with a garden hose. The handle just ripped the garden hose apart. Someone tried holding a 2x4 at an angle but it splintered the board and knocked it out of his hands.

Suddenly my feet in the concrete faded from the foreground of gaffs. Phew!

As a supervisor Joe could get under your skin. That made him like all of my other supervisors when I was growing up. They yelled a lot: Joe, my dad, my uncle, and Scott (Scott's yelling was a little different because there was an ironic twist to his yelling and it somehow ended with a laugh). Tony was the only supervisor that didn't yell at me (thanks, Tony!).

Joe's yelling wasn't personal. It was always focused on getting the job done. It was interesting to me that when he would--off the job-- help me with something, the dynamic was completely different. The same guy who would yell and fuss on the job would come over to my house and help me with a monumental task (for free, on his day off) and never utter a harsh word. He would just smile, laugh, and lead the way. Work was work. Helping a friend was a different matter completely.

I have a great picture of him somewhere. I'll post when I get the chance.

Joe, you will be missed.

One Thanksgiving and a Funeral

Thanksgiving week has come and gone. It was a disjointed holiday at our house. Cindy remained in JC with her grandfather while the rest of us went to Indy for the big family gathering. My sister (who I hadn't seen in over two years) and her family flew in from ALBQ, NM and we all gathered at my brother's house.

The family time was tremendous. You can see the gathering of cousins here. They all seemed to have a good time. I didn't take pictures, instead I stole these from my sister's facebook page.
Here you see my Dad, Wendy (his wife), and all of the cousins gathered in one spot. The only person missing last week was Cindy.

Here I am with my big sis. She was a senior in high school when I was a freshman (my brother, Eric, was a sophomore that year). Georgia and I looked more alike. One of her friends knew Eric, but didn't know me. One day that friend approached Georgia and said, "There is a freshman who looks just like you." "I know," Georgia said, "that's my brother." "No," the friend replied, "I know your brother and it isn't him."

In order to avoid anymore confusion I shaved my head and grew facial hair.In the midst of all the Thanksgiving celebration, though, we lost a family friend. He was in ICU when I arrived in Indy. He died later that night. He's worthy of his own post, but I'll need to give it more time than I can right now. After getting back to JC on Friday night, I spent Saturday preparing for Sunday and for the funeral that I would drive back to Indiana to lead.