Pastoral Prayer

For the last couple of years, a Congregational / Pastoral Prayer has been consistently included in our Sunday morning worship services.  The prayers are strong, rich, and long (lasting about five minutes each).  It has been another way of keeping prayer before the congregation, reminding them of prayer needs and giving examples of deep conversation with God.

The characteristics of most of the Congregational prayers include:

– Scriptural References.  Some start with a biblical call to worship or a passage used as the theme for the prayer and all have a biblical basis. 

– Promises.  The promises of God are spoken to Him with a request for our being able to see Him work them out.  We know He will keep His promises, and we delight to ask and see Him do them.

– World wide and National attention.  The church’s missionaries are mentioned by name, and God is asked for his work in current events around the globe.

– Local focus.  Nearby Bible- preaching churches are prayed for

– Congregational concerns.  Rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn includes mentioning specific people by name.  Specific issues facing the church are lifted up.

– Thanksgiving, and praise.  Much is made of the Triune God and His goodness to us.

The prayers are written out ahead of time, practiced, and delivered as an act of worship.   We should consider making them into a book.

God’s Great Might

Ephesians 1.20-23 describes the immeasurable greatness of God’s power that he worked in Christ:

– Raised Him from the dead

– Seated Him (Jesus) at his (Father’s) right hand in the heavenly places

– Seated Him far above all rule and authority and power and dominion

– Seated Him above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the one to come

– Put all things under His feet

– Gave Him as head over all things in the church, His body

– Fills all creation with His followers

It is good to glorify the Father and the risen King.  Amen. Maranatha.

Reggie Jackson Quotes

Reggie Jackson was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.  These quotes show a bit of arrogance and a sense of humor.  (Note: The Gold Glove in baseball goes to the best fielder at each position; Reggie Jackson was primarily a hitter.)

“Fans don’t boo nobodies”

“I think he likes me.” – On California Angels owner Gene Autry signing him to a large contract

“The only reason I don’t like playing in the World Series is I can’t watch myself play.”

“I was reminded that when we lose and I strike out, a billion people in China don’t care.”

“The only way I’m going to win a Gold Glove is with a can of spray paint.”

When you’ve played this game for 10 years, gone to bat 7,000 times and gotten 2,000 hits, do you know what that really means?  If means you’ve gone zero for 5,000!”

 

Taken from Baseball’s Greatest Quotations, by Paul Dickson

 

Gospel Urgency

Luke 13.1-9 provides several messages about our pressing need to hear Jesus’ call.

Some people asked about the Galileans who had been tortured by Herod.  This was evidently a recent news item, and there seemed to be an underlying question about whether it was their own fault.  Jesus made it clear that it was not that they were worse sinners than others, and he used it as a call for the people with him right then to repent. 

He reminded them of the eighteen who were crushed when a tower fell over in Siloam.  “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

The parable that follows continues the theme.  A man’s fig tree had produced no fruit after being in his vineyard for three years.  It was just using up the ground; he wanted to cut it down.  But the gardener suggested some work he could do to restore it, so the owner agreed to a one-year extension.  The application for those listening to Jesus was that they had had an adequate amount of time to respond to Him.  The one year signifies that their grace period would be extended, but the extension was limited. 

Red Water In Loins

The following is a mildly bizarre but true event in the life of a homeowner…

It was Friday, 10/09/09.  A month prior was a great day; a month and a day later was sequentially wonderful; that day was just weird.

The Board of Water and Light (BWL) flushed the hydrant at the corner that morning.  Imagine my surprise when the upstairs toilet and sink filled with nasty brown water.  I did not remember for half an hour or so that I had a load of laundry running.  Good thing it was darks, and good thing it was Allan’s t-shirts and old stuff; it was all brownish. The dishwasher was done by that time, so we had clean dishes. 

I called BWL and the nice lady said to just let a faucet run for 20 minutes or so and that should clear it out.  I called back after an hour and a half when the flow of brownish-red gunk was worse than when it started.  The second nice lady with an undetermined accent said, “Oh, you must only have the lowest faucet in the house on just a trickle, otherwise it will stir up the water in your loins.”  So, I asked, “shouldn’t I just turn the water off and let it settle?”  “Well, no, that way you will never get the sediment out of your loins.”  I didn’t know what to say.

Twenty minutes later two BWL technician types (they had a truck and left the flashing light on while in the driveway) arrived.  They took a sample of the water, tossed in some chemical, and declared the water free of bacteria.  I suspected they made that up because it sounded like a line from NCIS.  They also said, “that red stuff is iron from the pipes, and here are two bottles of Iron Away (or Red Be Gone, or some other dismissive name).  Just follow the directions and you can use it on your load of laundry or toilet or sinks or whatever to get rid of the redness. And just let your faucet run until Monday. Any faucet you want, just let it run.”

“Monday?” I asked.

They explained that they had just taken a meter reading and would come back on Monday to get another reading, and they promised we wouldn’t have to pay for any water or sewage charges from then until Monday. 

 “Well, what about the suspected junk in the hot water heater?”  The answer: “since the water is free, go ahead and run several loads of hot water through the washer and flush it out of the hot water heater.”

So we let the water run in the basement sink Friday night and Saturday night.  The laundry was clean Sunday, so we turned the water off.  When the BWL fellow returned, he tested the water again and pronounced it good.  It would have been a better test if he had taken a drink of the water.