New Word - Autumnishy

My wife's newest word - AUTUMNISHY.

Definition - "of or pertaining to autumn, like Autumn"

Typical sentence: I am going to make my office more autumnishy.

Yours because His,

Pastor Patrick

Can I Stop Talking?

Can I Stop Talking?

Earlier this fall, I preached two sermons on finding God in times of silence and in times of solitude. You can see the sermons at my sermon blog:

http://PastorFloyd.blogspot.com

The two sermons were preached as part of a series on the Christian Disciplines - where I attempted to answer the question, "Most of us come to church so that we can know God better. What can I do to know God better?"

I even put it in practice by visiting our local zoo. Rather than trying to see every exhibit, during my five hours at the zoo, I stopped at only four exhibits:

• The Alligators
• The Meerkats
• The Tigers
• The Polar Bears

And I had lunch. It was designed to be a relaxing time, a time of reflection and retreating. It was good.

One of the other ways that I relax is reading. I like light mystery. For example, I have been reading the books by Lee Goldberg based on the Diagnosis Murder and Monk TV series. Each of these include a bit of comedy and a bit of mystery making them fun to read.

Another series I stumbled on a couple of years ago after watching a Made-For-TV movie on the Hallmark Channel is written by a female author writing under the pseudonym of Lee Harris. The series tells the story of a former Catholic nun who was raised in a convent and naturally joined the teaching staff of its college. At the age of 30, Christine Bennett found herself responsible for the care of a mentally challenged nephew and the recipient of a house along the Long Island Sound. During the course of the seventeen books, she is married, has a child, and solves a series of murders that seem to be dropped in her lap. Written in the first person, they have been fun to read and follow her through the early years of marriage, motherhood, and murder.

I am currently reading the final book in the series. The author told me in a personal e-mail that the publisher was choosing to leave the genre and would not be publishing more books. Though she has another series with another publisher, her hands are tied when it comes to the Christine Bennett Mystery series. She describes the other series as being "darker and harder" - something that I do not find inviting. After finishing The Cinco De Mayo Murder I will have read all the Christine Bennett Mystery books that have been published.

So what does The Cinco De Mayo Murder have to do with finding God in silence and solitude. The question is answered on page 158 of the book. Christine is on the way to visit a college professor who knew her latest victim and that probably had some vital information in finding some resolution to the case. She is moving through the corridors and climbing the stairs of the college classroom building. As she makes her way to the professor's office, she is passed by "an occasional young person" who scoots by with "a cell phone at his ear." At that point the author, writing in the first person, comments, "We have become a society that cannot stop talking."

I was reminded of my words of a few weeks earlier. Can we, can I, slow down enough that I can hear God speaking? Or do I have so much to say that I will no longer listen to God? May I never be so noisy, that I will not or cannot listen to God. Let me always find times of silence, let me always find times of silence or solitude, either intentionally or not, that God can use to speak to me. May the same be true for you.

Yours because His,

Pastor Patrick

Spiritual Disciplines Word Find

Spiritual Discipline

E V E N V L W B K H X F K J W I T I
V A K L V N W W L E X M O B R G S G
T B E A Q I O V Y I B D H G B B E C
G N I N E T S I L V I M O Z J D R C
O Q Y P R O Q M S S I D Q I R B P B
E C N E L I S Y C S S I R Y C X C F
Y M V D N I V I U * E Y A I V I P K
O C Y H H I P D P G F F F R I Z F F
X Y D G W L G R T E W Z N O Z D N H
T D A A I I E V T T M R O O L N K Z
Q R P N X S B C M F R W P V C H E S
M T E Q E K N Z M T I I G J Z B C P
U S M N Y Q K T H Q O V L D K N I C
R B C I E V S P I R I T U A L H T H
M E R T T N T F Q J T Y R V S W S F
N O I S S I M B U S K W Y R N R C U
Q Z E B J V Z X H Y F Q O K O H I F
F O J Y A R R J D O Q W O W D H A N

CONFESSION DISCIPLINES GODS
PRESENCE LISTENING REST
SILENCE SPIRITUAL SUBMISSION

WORSHIP

What Color Is Your Brain

Your Brain is Yellow

Of all the brain types, yours is the most intellectual. You crave mental stimulation, and your thoughts tend to very complex. Your thoughts tend to be innovative and cutting edge, though many people don't understand them. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about science, architecture, and communication.

What Color Is Your Brain?

Our Mailbox Is Gone

Our Mailbox Is Gone

It was a difficult Sunday morning when we woke up and found our mailbox laying on the ground. Though we would not be receiving mail on Sunday, the Sunday morning paper was in the middle of the driveway, not in its normal tube. With two services and a son's birthday to celebrate, it would not get repaired that day. And Monday was scheduled for one of the last matinee ballgames to be played by our local minor league baseball team. It might have been better to fix the mailbox on Monday rather going to the game - but no way was that going to happen. So we again received Monday's paper in the middle of the driveway. And we received no mail.

So Tuesday was set aside for fixing the mailbox - and getting blood drawn for the tests my doctor had ordered. I picked up the paperwork at the doctor's office, when to the lab to have my blood drawn. This was followed by a late lunch with my son (hey, it was 11:00 AM by this time) and a trip to Home Depot to pick up some tools and hardware. By 2:15 we had the mailbox and two paper tubes back in place. We had already missed Tuesday mail - so, other than missing two days mail, the job was not too bad.

I really don't know who knocked down our mailbox. It may have been the person driving the car that delivers our Sunday morning paper, or perhaps the neighbor across the street backing out of his or her driveway. Or maybe just a prank - who knows. But it is back up now.

Messages don't always get through. Mailboxes do get hit. E-mail gets lost in cyberspace. Mail gets misdirected or delayed.

But there is one group of messages that do always get through - they are the messages we send to God. He hears our prayers, He answers our prayers, He knows our needs even before we express them in words. And if we keep our hearts open, we may also find that God is willing to speak to us.

And when the relationship has to be rebuilt, when we are ready, God is in the business of repairing it.

The mailbox never has to go missing when we are communicating with God.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! That calls me from a world of care, And bids me at my Father’s throne Make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief And oft escaped the tempter’s snare By thy return, sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! The joys I feel, the bliss I share, Of those whose anxious spirits burn With strong desires for thy return! With such I hasten to the place Where God my Savior shows His face, And gladly take my station there, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! Thy wings shall my petition bear To Him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless. And since He bids me seek His face, Believe His Word and trust His grace, I’ll cast on Him my every care, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! May I thy consolation share, Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height, I view my home and take my flight: This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise To seize the everlasting prize; And shout, while passing through the air, “Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/h/shop.htm

Yours because His,

Pastor Patrick

Trinitarian Doctrine

I am occasionally asked about the trinity. I usually summarize it this way:

1. There is only one God
2. The Father is called God
3. The Son is called God
4. The Holy Spirit is called God
5. No one else is called God

Though I am sure that I was introduced to the Athanasian Creed in seminary, I do not remember it. I recently stumbled across it - and find it to be a much more inclusive statement of the Trinitarian doctrine.

Athanasian Creed

---

1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith;
2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
3. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
4. Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.
5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.
8. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated.
9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.
10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
11. And yet they are not three eternals but one eternal.
12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.
13. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty.
14. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.
15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;
16. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;
18. And yet they are not three Lords but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;
20. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say; There are three Gods or three Lords.
21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.
23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
25. And in this Trinity none is afore or after another; none is greater or less than another.
26. But the whole three persons are coeternal, and coequal.
27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
28. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.
31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world.
32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.
34. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.
35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God.
36. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;
38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;
39. He ascended into heaven, He sits on the right hand of the Father, God, Almighty;
40. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies;
42. and shall give account of their own works.
43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.

On a side note, my wife and I considered naming our first son Athanasius. I am glad we did not - we chose "Jonathan Edward" instead.

Yours because His,

Pastor Patrick

How High Can You Go?

During our morning worship service we give an opportunity for members of our congregation to choose a number of songs to sing. This morning someone suggested Hymn 418 from the United Methodist Hymnal, "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder."

Sitting in the back of the church was our Church Lay Leader - a man who spends a great deal of time on a ladder. After church we thought that this might be a good theme song for his job - and he agreed.

There was only one problem - the ladders he regularly works on only go so high. They reach the top of many buildings, but there are some that he cannot reach with the ladders he has available. But Jacob's ladder has no limits - except those put there by God. If we take the time to climb Jacob's ladder, who knows how far we can go in service to the master.

We are climbing Jacob's ladder,

We are climbing Jacob's ladder,

We are climbing Jacob's ladder,

Soldiers of the cross.

Every round goes higher, higher,

Every round goes higher, higher,

Every round goes higher, higher,

Soldiers of the cross.

Sinner, do you love my Jesus?

Sinner, do you love my Jesus?

Sinner, do you love my Jesus?

Soldiers of the cross.

If you love him,

why not serve him?

If you love him,

why not serve him?

If you love him,

why not serve him?

Soldiers of the cross.

Afro-American Spiritual

Yours because His,

Pastor Patrick