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Loving God, we …

Loving God, we confess that we have forgotten who made us. We have forgotten who loved us. In the midst of trying to remember everything else, in the midst of holding everything together, we have forgotten you. Forgive us, God. Help us to know that you never forget us, and are always taking care of us, guarding and protecting us in the midst of our worries and concerns.

Prayer

Based loosely on Matthew 6:28-34 

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Batman and Baptism

My most viewed blog post ever!

katyandtheword's avatarkatyandtheword

Baptism Message: You are beautiful and loved and perfect as a newborn naked baby, the more “Naked” you can be with God, the more you can share in the glory of Christ’s love (both reviewed in Skinny Dipping and Embodied Spirituality and Nakedness)…
Reality…Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, then always be batman. This morning a batman costume helped to relieve any nerves during baptism….yep today I baptized batman..

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The Health of the Minister (A follow up to my talk to the General Assembly)

And more thoughts on the whole minister and health thing…

Matthew Ruttan's avatarMatthew Ruttan

Picture Matthew speakingThe health and well-being of leaders is hugely important to the vitality of congregations but it is very rarely talked about.

(Pause)

A few months ago I was invited to speak to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. (It’s kind of like a national AGM).

In light of some of the good things happening at Westminster Church in Barrie, I was asked to share remarks as a part of something called Good News in the Church: Vibrant Connections.

(You can watch my 12 minute presentation by clicking here and scrolling down — I start talking about 6 minutes into the video.)

In this blog, I just want to share a bit on one of the things I talked about. It’s close to my heart and also something that I’ve received a lot of feedback about—from other pastors and congregants and friends and strangers on the web.

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With all this h…

With all this hubbub about the new PCUSA hymnal (people care more about their hymns than almost anything) I would like to state, for the record, that my current favorite hymn is Blessed Assurance…

favorite lyrics are “o what aforetaste of glory divine” communion (and baptism)! “echoes of mercy, whispers of love” (again, what we experience here are a foretaste of full mercy and love) “Perfect submission, all is at rest I in my Savior am happy and blest” Submission, not losing myself but finding myself, perfect and restful, in Jesus.

And of course “this is my story, this is my song, praising my savior all the day long” I live to praise! And my best, favorite forms of praise are in stories and song (esp. that story part for me)

YAY
Note: Former favorite hymns were “Holy, Holy, Holy” “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God” “Somebody’s knocking at my door” “Here I am Lord”

Hymns YAY

Who raised these millennials anyway

Who raised these millennials anyway

A very well put together article that corresponds to the CNN post about why millennials are leaving the church…. and as for what the church means to me read….. 

 

And for my opinion on Millennials and why they are the way they are….

Look at those citations/links they are awesome!!!

Things people have trouble understanding about ministry

Things people have trouble understanding about ministry

As he said, these don’t all apply to everyone, but my favorite today is

“9. Ministry is a hard job. Sometimes it’s said as a joke, sometimes it’s said in anger, that ministers don’t work very hard. That it’s a cushy gig. If that were true I doubt I’d know so many ministers who have quit swearing never to return, including myself. The best way I can think to explain why ministry is hard is to compare it to being the parent of a young child. From the outside it might not look like a lot of ‘work,’ but from the inside it’s the most exhausting thing you’ll ever do. Because it’s not just about the amount of things you do, it’s the total emotional drain of it. It’s worrying all day every day about the people and programs you’re in charge of, being on call and not ever feeling really free to be away, feeling like you live in a fishbowl with hundreds of eyes watching you all the time and never really knowing what they are all thinking of you (unless they complain, which some of them do with regularity). It’s caring for people to the point that you have nothing left for your own family when you get home, yet expecting that they show a certain spiritually-put-together face to the church (because the church expects that). It’s often feeling empty, yet pretending to feel full. It’s presenting yourself and your work to hundreds of people, several times a week, for evaluation, and often getting no feedback except ‘constructive’ criticism. And after all of this, after years of this, it’s looking out at the people in your church and seeing little or no change. Ministry is very hard, albeit perhaps in a different way than your job is hard.”

Your a millenni…

Your a millennial pastor, how do you get millennial’s to come to church?
You don’t, you go out and meet them where they are and love them and serve them
But how do we get them here?
::Sigh::

Its like asking an expert for advice and then ignoring it…..