Grace Lutheran Church

Have you ever moved to a new place, and been greeted by a friendly neighbour? Perhaps it was something official, like a “Welcome Wagon” representative with a basket of gifts or maybe it was a simple “hello” from someone living across the hall. First impressions are powerful, and so is being part of the welcoming committee.

“Time like an ever rolling stream soon bears us all away,” goes the opening line from the familiar hymn, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.”  Appropriate words for the month of November as we celebrate the festival of All Saints and remember as well those who have offered their lives and still do in an effort to bring peace to our troubled world.  Indeed, time like a river moves on for all of us.  Sometimes the stream is like a trickle.  At others, it’s like a rushing torrent, crashing over jagged boulders.

No matter which, life is precious but fleeting.  Some say it speeds up with age.  In reality, while still young each day is proportionately a much larger segment of your entire life thus far.  Hence children waiting for a birthday or Christmas may find each day is like a thousand years.   But as you get older each day counts for a far smaller percentage of your total days and hence the illusion of time flying by.  Psalm 90 puts time in perspective—God’s perspective.  “A thousand years in Your sight is like a day that has just gone by.”  Our time is in God’s hands no matter how we might measure its passing.  How we use it is all that matters.

Here We Go!
That’s how I often feel at the beginning of  September. Here we go back to school! Here we go back to work. Here we go back to a routine that starts with crisp fall weather, turning leaves, and too soon will plunge us into snowy days and months of winter. Sorry, it had to be said.

Here we go also into another season of ministry at Grace Lutheran Church. It promises to be an eventful year! As you look ahead, what is on the horizon for you? What projects and plans are you developing? Or if you find yourself in a season of change, perhaps exploring what life is like in retirement, how will you spend the time you are given?

As I write, today is the first official day of summer. Like the rest of the year we can’t predict exactly what to expect when it comes to the weather. There will be warm days, even some that are hot, but which is which depends on one’s tolerance for heat. There will be rain. We pray it’s sufficient for crops and forests - coming at exactly the right time according to our way of thinking. There will be cloudy days and sunny days, windy days and stormy ones too. Whether it’ll be a great summer, mediocre, or poor depends on one’s perspective.

Starting With Compassion   

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts...” Colossians 3:12a”

There’s always too much to do. That seems to be a common theme in many people’s lives today. Too many demands, not enough time. Too many requests, not enough resources. To borrow a phrase from Bilbo Baggins, the old hobbit in the Lord of the Rings adventures, pretty soon we start feeling like butter scraped over too much bread.

“New Every Morning”

+ “Ten Simple Ways to Love Your Neighbour”

= Spring GraceVine Article from Team Boehm!

From Pastor Curtis...

Are you a morning person? Some people seem to have an uncanny ability to leap out of bed in the early morning and start their day. For others, it's more of a battle. Whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, or somewhere in between, there is a sense in which all of us who call Jesus Lord are morning people. That’s because we’re Easter people, living each day in the dawn of a resurrection world. Early or late, we can learn to pattern our lives according to the rhythm of the days Jesus gives us. “Good morning, Risen Lord! What do you have in store for me today? Good night, faithful Lord. Thank you for this day.”

My faithful wife and team-mate in ministry has had some “morning inspiration” lately so I think it will be refreshing to hear some of what Jesus has been filling her up with! So...over to you, Andrea!

"Brave New Love"

“The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning, it’s time to sing Your praise again! Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.” These lyrics from the popular worship song, “Ten Thousand Reasons” invite us to imagine the day ahead. What does God have planned for you today? How will you respond to the opportunities that He presents to you?

 

Oh love that will not let me go, sounds perhaps like a refrain from a popular rock song or country ballad. Actually it is the opening line of a hymn of the same name written by George Matheson on the evening of June 6 1882. Almost completely blind by the age of 17, George nevertheless completed a Masters degree at the University of Glasgow and became a parish minister. He had been engaged to be married, but as his eyesight failed completely, the love of his life told him she did not think she could deal with it anymore and broke off their engagement.

When you get an “E” for effort it suggests you’ve at least tried but likely didn’t do all that well.  When the needle on your fuel gauge reaches “E” you know you’re being warned and not commended.  I’ve heard that with the price of gas up and down of late some people are investing in only half a tank hoping the price will go down.  Should they run out of gas in rush hour they may find themselves hoping there’s enough fumes to coast into the next service station.  Maybe you’ve been there, done that, but hoped in vain.

The Difference Love Makes

Recently I was going for my usual Saturday night walk before I preach and finding it especially difficult to see the good news in the message I was about to share with the congregation. There are times when it is easy to find the right words, and other times when all my words sound forced and laboured. And try as I might in those times, I just cannot pull myself up by my bootstraps, and make it better.

As I walked, I prayed, asking God to help me do a good job finishing the sermon. I prayed hard, because it was getting late and I was becoming stressed. But God didn’t respond by dropping the last page of the message out of the sky into my up-stretched arms like I imagined.