Yard Sale Bargains Galore - but How Much for Your Soul?

Priced to sell!  Bargains galore!

While these are the sales pitches for tomorrow’s Yard Sale to benefit our Youth Group, they hardly seem fitting words for a church, or are they?

While you might find a lawn spreader for $5 or a Nordic Trac Eliptical for $100 or a candle for only 25 cents (bargains all), what would you pay for the redemption of your soul?

Jesus paid the ultimate price for your salvation.  He suffered  betrayal,  humiliation, torture and a brutal death to ransom our souls from Satan.  You, however, need only to ask forgiveness and believe in Him to be saved. 

Now THAT’s a bargain.

Come check out the thousands of bargains we offer at our Yard Sale tomorrow and help send our Youth to the 2012 ELCA National YouthGathering in New Orleans.




COME AND SHOP --- RAIN or SHINE! 
TOMORROW - Sat., May 7,  8:00 am until 3:00 pm
St. Andrew Lutheran Church
335 Reynolds Ave., Parsippany, NJ  07054
(973) 887-6713
Click here for directions
Or check out our website: www.elcaAndy.org

Cut it Out

Today I was outside for much of the day pruning some of my neighbor’s bushes, in particular, a large forsythia that kept me busy for some time.  It gave me plenty of opportunity to think about how often the Church and our own personal lives also often need a good pruning. 

(For those of you who don’t know, my family looks out for and takes care of my elderly neighbor, Barbara.)

Barbara’s forsythia isn’t just huge, it’s humongous.  I bring out a ladder to reach some of the top stuff that needs trimming.  It takes a long time to shape and thin.  (My hair dresser can probably say the same thing!)  This year I was going to pay the price for having neglected this task for the past two years as I face three seasons of growth.

Long tendrils of forsythia branches had grown almost down to the ground.  New growth shoots on the inside of the bush would struggle to grow if the heavier growth on the outside was allowed to shade the interior.  

A very old, and very large forsythia in the process of being pruned.

It’s a very old bush.  Many years ago I got out there and cut out a lot of the thicker and older branches to allow some room for new shoots to fill out and strengthen the infrastructure of the bush in upcoming years.  Each year I cut out the dead wood from the previous year.  Each year I try to trim down one or two really old stalks so that the process of new growth can continue.  It seems to be working.  It is amazing to me to see some of those thick old branches still shooting off new growth, even down inside the bush.

Truthfully, I’m not even sure if I’m really doing it right.  It took me a year or two (a long time ago) before I understood that I should really prune forsythia after it is done flowering in the Spring, not in the Fall.  But in the end, the bush seems to hold a nice shape, flowers beautifully in the Spring, and my neighbor is happy that I keep it from becoming an unsightly monster.  It’s exhausting, but fulfilling.  I imagine that it would hurt (if forsythia had feelings), but the result is worth the work or pain. 

God encourages us to do pruning in our own lives and in the Church as well. 

A healthy Church does not allow individuals or groups to sway it from its Mission.  A healthy Church will, by keeping its Mission in focus, eventually trim away those whose ideas or self-interests are at odds with its Mission by not giving them the power to alter the Mission.  A healthy Church gives rise to new ideas and ways of doing things that still support the vision of its Mission.   A healthy Church builds new life upon the strength and wisdom of healthy older lives that encourage new ideas, new visions, and new ways of being Christ to our communities.

Of course, a healthy Church knows its Mission in the first place and has its roots grounded in Christ.

God encourages us to do the same with our own lives.  We are to prune away the things that weigh us down and keep us from growing… the over-commitment to things that ultimately mean little, the addictions to things that keep us from being committed to the One Thing that can make an eternal difference for our lives, and the people and things that poison our hearts and minds and keep us from seeking out the nourishing and life-giving Grace of God, to name a few.

When we do these things…our lives, and our Churches, will grow and bear fruit with the abundance that God has intended to fill our lives.

John 15:2  “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Amen.  

Are you willing to cut away the dead wood in your life?  What sort of things (or people) hamper or come between you and your relationship with God?  What can you prune away to stimulate your spiritual growth?

www.elcaAndy.org
Worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 and 10:45 am
Come support our Youth Group Fundraiser:
Yard Sale, May 7 from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm

The Easter Resurrection Births a New Church

We are now in the season of Easter until the Day of Pentecost.  During these upcoming weeks we’ll hear stories of Jesus appearing to His disciples, assuring them of His Resurrection, comforting them from their distress, chastising them for their disbelief, warning them of the dangers ahead, praying for His disciples, giving them hope with the promise of the Holy Spirit, and then ascending to Heaven before their eyes.

On June 12, we’ll celebrate Pentecost as Jesus delivers to us His Holy Spirit, but in between we’ll walk with our risen Lord as He lives among us.

Imagine the joy!  All of creation wanted to cry out when Jesus conquered death and rose victorious on Easter Sunday.  With Jesus’ Resurrection there is a New Creation….the Church…God’s Holy People, made of flesh and bone but born again as REDEEMED Children of God.

The Church is made new in the Resurrection of Christ!

Christ is risen, Alleluia!

Join us for worship on Sundays at 8:30 and 10:45 am

www.elcaAndy.org

What is God? Luther uses 11 words.

I was flipping through my copy of Luther’s Small Catechism and came across  Martin Luther’s answer to the question, “What is God?”

Luther answers, God is… eternal (without beginning or end), unchangeable, omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (present everywhere), holy (sinless), just (fair and impartial), faithful (keeping his promises), benevolent (good, kind, desiring our welfare), merciful (full of pity), and gracious (showing undeserved kindness, forgiving). Each attribute is accompanied by Biblical citations to back up his answer.

As I thought about these descriptions of God, I was glad that my version of Luther’s Small Catechism included the synonyms for Luther’s words. We use these words so often in our worship, liturgy, and discussions that I think we sometimes loose some of their meaning. Sometimes it feels like we are speaking a language of a by-gone era.

Not many people today speak using the words omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Even the word “benevolent” seems like a word reserved for use by church groups, tax accountants, or charity organizations. We use the word “just” mainly in regard to our legal system, but ask any kid and he’ll look at you like you’ve grown two heads… “just is just a word that doesn’t mean anything” when what he means to say is that it is an adverb that means “simply.”

This question has me thinking about more of the words we use in church and how strange they must sound to the un-churched.

When I write our church newsletter, I try to remember to describe some of those church-y words like “narthex” or lobby, “sanctuary” or church, “sacristry” or kitchenette where we prepare the “eucharist” or Holy Communion, or bread and wine if we really need to boil it down. Altar preparation has another whole set of vocabulary that I won’t get into here, but if you volunteer for the altar guild you’ll need to know.

I’m glad St. Andrew does make the attempt to explain our church-lingo, but it also is nice to have a set of words that help to set these sacred places apart from the rest of the world.

Our communion table is not just a table, but an altar.

Our children are baptized in a font, not just a bowl of water.

These are special things, sacred things. They are separate from the world. They belong to a place for God.

So maybe instead of dumbing it down, we need to focus on educating people up. Not in a holier-than-thou kind of way, but in a “these are the words we use to take the ordinary, and make them extra-ordinary for God and His people” kind of way.

We need to show how our eternal, unchangeable, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, just, faithful, benevolent, merciful, and gracious God takes the common things among us, including you and me, and makes them holy, sacred and special to Him.

Luther makes one final note at the end of his answer.  "God is love."  1 John 4:8

We are sanctified (made holy or sinless) just/simply by His Grace (undeserved kindness and forgiveness)...because He loves us.

Amen.

What church words do you think we need to do a better job of describing?  What are your favorite church words that set something apart as special for God?

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