Tag: Issues ETc.

Making the best use of the time

Posted on by nfuller

What are we to do with ourselves during this corona virus lockdown? Sometimes we face tough decisions of whether to take a risk or not in leaving the house- a grocery trip or an essential medical appointment.  A few weeks back churches all over the country made tough decisions about whether to hold worship or not. Some met for worship in person, and others opted for online meeting opportunities. By last Sunday the decision was made for us. Staying home from all public gatherings was a mandate of the government, a part of obeying the 4th commandment to listen to government authorities.  We are to continue to follow government authorities unless the authority is against the proclamation of Christ- in which case we must obey God rather than man.  Now that the decision is made for us whether to stay home or be about in public- what is a person to do with the extra amount of time home bound?

In the last few weeks I have been speaking with people in counseling contexts about how to think of their current situation and often, how to make the best out of it.  In my own family I have experienced day by day a progression of forming new routines in an entirely new chapter in American history (one we hope is temporary).

Here are some thoughts and experiences of mine of how to make the best use of the time: (Ephesians 5:15-16)  “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”  My perspective is that more routine is better than less in dealing with difficult periods of isolation.

One: Prayer for our nation, prayer for our churches

Consider setting aside somewhat specific times in the day and week where you can be more routine in prayer than you might be with a busy work or family life schedule. In our time of need we come to our Father in prayer knowing our prayers are heard.

Two: Specific goals for your own life journey of reading the scripture.  In addition to extra time almost all of us have at present, opportunities for online devotionals and worship services or podcast Bible Studies are numerous right now.  www.issuesetc.org provides an excellent variety of experts on topics of theology and Christian applications to cultural issues.  www.cph.org  provides currently free downloads for Bible studies.  www.lutheranpublicradio.org  provides free sacred music 24 hours a day.  Hearing the Word proclaimed form others is the closest we can have to hearing God’s Word in worship.  Routine in hearing God’s Word can come in the form of a day by day reading plan.   

Three:  Stick with routines in daily life.  Try to get up at a similar time and not oversleep in the morning due to discouragement. Consider a schedule of daily chores and if there are old interests of yours to renew like reading, crafts, art work (with what supplies you may still have around the house.)

Four: Nutrition goals. Since trips to a grocery store are a slight risk, making good use of the food we have and not wasting or over eating just feels right.

Five:  Exercise. Walking, running, or cycling may be possible in your neighborhood to a certain degree without risking spread of disease.  Inside the home workout videos,  yoga, or other disciplines of strengthening your body are available on Youtube.

Six:  For those in family contexts, this is an ideal time to work on relational growth goals through the art of intentional conversations. Take this time to grow in your appreciation for each family relationship. Explore what organization and structure as family can be sharpened. For those with vocations of living alone, consider what opportunities you have for reaching out and caring for others through phone calls

Seven:  Introspection. Consider taking time for journaling where you can ground your feelings, become more aware of what you are feeling, reevaluate old routines and clarify your goals for new priorities.   Think critically about what routines have been like in your life and in our culture and what may perhaps change in your life when America “opens up again.”

Eight:  Distractions and breaks from news. Take time for entertainment or reading pursuits, listening to music, organizing parts of your living space.

Nine: Home improvement projects/ things you have been putting off (again if you have the materials already).

Ten:  Seek to learn a new skill.  Through online research there are bound to be some things you don’t know how to do and that you can learn for now or the future (homemade food recipe, art technique, gardening technique, furniture decorating strategies)

Take A long Look at Discipleship

Posted on by nfuller

Thanks and recognition are due to Dr. Carl Fickenscher II for the excellent and versatile thematic idea of “Take a long look at discipleship” as featured on the Issues Etc. radio, internet, and podcast ongoing series “Looking Forward to Sunday Morning” This is the text of the message preached at Christ Lutheran Church last Sunday September 8th.

Grace Mercy and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A father gives advice to his daughter before she goes to buy her first used car:  Don’t just go with the first car that catches your eye.  Watch for pitfalls and red flags that say this car is not all that it is cracked up to be. Look past the surface. Take a long look.  

A mother gives advice to her daughter about beginning to date.  Don’t get swept off your feet by the first young man who gives you any attention without paying attention as to what his character is truly like. Take a long look.

A realtor speaks to a first home buyer: Picture what it would be like with your own furniture and family here, picture spending years and years within these walls of the house and looking out into this yard. Take a long look.

If I were to talk to one of my children about his or her wedding day, I can picture myself saying: Take a long look- see how beautiful it is that God has provided you with someone to love and cherish and journey with you in this life of following Jesus. Cherish the moment and take it in: take a long, transcendentally beautiful look. 

God’s Word for us this morning invites us to take a long look at what it means to follow Jesus.  In Deuteronomy chapter 30 Moses is speaking to the people of Israel as he approaches the end of his life.  “See I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.”  The people of Israel are about to enter the promise land.  They are at a turning point in their lives that deserves some careful consideration.

He does not want the people of Israel to treat entering the Promise Land lightly without any consideration for what is at stake to their lives.  He speaks to them of what is at stake in the positive and what is at stake in the negative. The positive: If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord God will bless you in the land you are entering to take possession of. 

The negative: If your heart turns away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, “I declare to you today that you shall truly perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and posses.” After all the acts of deliverance from Pharaoh, all the giving of the law through the wilderness- you would enter into the promise land only perish.

Can you picture the age lines around his eyes and the weariness Moses must have carried with him as he spoke those words?   Moses witnessed firsthand how ugly it can get when people disobey God’s Commands- especially when he is not directly watching over them.  He saw how easily the people cooked up the golden calf, or how easily they grumbled and wished they had never left slavery in Egypt.   

Moses saw what is in the heart of man, and how hard it is for the people to remain faithful- despite all that the Lord does for them. Take a long look at Moses, near the end of his life, and see how difficult is the road of discipleship.  

Today is September 8th.  You have a congregational Call Meeting scheduled shortly after the service. Take a long look at the costs of discipleship- the work that is ahead, the hard painstaking work ahead of us in a hard time in history to be the church where many in our generation simply prefer to stay home than come to a church and have people know who they are and perhaps at times disappoint them.

Look at our culture today where more people than ever have convinced themselves that they can be Christians without attending or being part of a church because we as a society in so many ways like to fool ourselves into thinking we know better than God in how to live our lives, and that what we choose, whether it agrees with His clear Word or not, God must be proud of because he loves us and just wants us to be happy.  Take a look at how difficult it is to minister to our culture today that wants a generalized spiritual God who provides no direction or limits in life.  Of course such a god so many people would choose is no god at all.  A god that is not somewhere for you is nowhere.  Take a look at our culture in dire need of a specific Savior named Jesus, the God who is there and present for us, who is the Way the Truth and the Life.    

See for yourselves how hard the walk of discipleship is.  You have to count the cost and be ready, like building a tower, you want to make sure you are able to complete it.  .  Jesus has spoken clearly how difficult it is: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” The cross brings division at the level of our very families. “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”  Take a long look and consider whether you are ready for the challenge.

As a church we want to be ready for the challenge.  If we decide we have nothing left to give, not enough faith in Jesus to commit to the work of the kingdom we are like salt that has lost its taste. We are of no use to anyone if as a church we just want to be safe and secure and are not ready to follow Jesus. 

Take a long look at the cost of discipleship, but see also how beautiful it is that Jesus walks with us.  Take a long look at our Savior, see his nail scars and the hole in his side. As one of our hymn describes it, see how glorious those scars are, those dear token of his passion.  

See how beautiful is God’s kingdom before us, like the view from Mount Nebo as the Lord showed Moses all of the promise land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western See , Negev and the Plain that is the valley of Jericho , the city of palm trees as far as Zoar.  It was just as God promises to His people “A land flowing with milk and Honey”   

Take along look at how beautiful the sight of the righteous who put their trust in Jesus, like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its due season, and its leaf does not wither, in all that he does, he prospers.

How beautiful the sight of God’s people in this place together worshiping our Savior, now and forever living by the Word of God. See the beauty of how members of Christ Lutheran Church care for one another and lift up one another in times of need:  ‘Bearing one another’s burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ.’

Take a long look at how our Lord has provided for our congregation’s needs in this last year! An AC/ heater unit goes out and within days our church receives a completely unexpected sizable donation enough to cover the cost. 

Look back in awe of the Lord’s work that a church can go from trying to survive for just one more week or month to instead planning for the future-  holding youth Sunday school for the first time in perhaps two years. Look carefully at what prayers are being answered among us.  

In our closing hymn today: Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer we will sing about the moment in our life that will parallel the people of Israel’s entrance into the promised land- when we face our last hour, knowing that Jesus has conquered the lasting sting of death and Hell’s destruction for us on the cross: 

“When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside, Death of death and hell’s destruction, Land me safe on Canaan’s side. Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to Thee.”