The Unique Announcement

Hello Emmanuel,

The announcement has been made.  I’ve gone and done it.  No backing out now. 

What:  Pastor Joe’s Bicycle Trip

From:  Casper, Wyoming

To:  Batavia, Ohio

Distance: 1,430 miles

Duration:  18 days (June 14th – July 1st)

Why:  To bring hope and faith to Brisas Del Mar, Columbia;

To help a community heal from tragedy; 

To serve the poorest of the poor;

To empower and equip Emmanuel to be God’s Church

To help with the costs of supplies and travel

How:  To pray a LOT

            Pastor Joe getting in biking shape by June (no more cookies)

            Vehicle support (Bill Maskiell)

            Sleeping in United Methodist Churches along the way (or hotels or fields or Bill’s truck)

To gain sponsorships from:

                        Emmanuel

                        Friends and Families of Emmanuel

                        Bike Shops between here and Wyoming

                        United Methodist Churches between here and Wyoming

            Lots of pedaling!

            Daily updates via facebook and other media outlets

How can you help?

            Get the word out

Make a pledge

            Invite your friends and families to make pledges

            Pray

            Bike with Pastor Joe (not for faint of heart)

            Ride with Bill in the truck for 18 days (also not for faint of heart)

            Volunteer to assist with promotional material (t-shirts, websites, etc)

More information will be available as time goes by.  Stay tuned.  This will be quite a project and lots of help will be needed.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Ask Pastor Joe: Is God Coming Soon?

Hello Emmanuel,

September has brought a new change to my newsletter.  September will be Ask Pastor Joe instead of Monday Morning Pulpit.  Submit your questions to me via email at pastorjoe@emmanuel-umc.com.  I’ll give you an answer.  Who knows?  It might be a good one.

Is God coming soon?

My first smart-aleck answer is ‘yes’.  My second smart-aleck answer is ‘Isn’t He already here?’

Biblically, we know that it isn’t for us to know about the return of Christ (which I assume is who is meant specifically by the word ‘God’).  However, as many of you know, I’ve not been much on investing on what might happen.  I do invest in what God wants us to do until He decides to take charge of all matters.

We are only told to be ready for the return.  While some apocalyptic writings like Revelation have valuable messages for us to learn, the essence of who we are called to be by God is making sure we are wearing the white robes when it is time to surround the Divine Throne shouting ‘Holy Holy Holy!’.

To be ready means to ask the question, ‘what does God want me to be and do right now’.  My answer?  God wants me to reach way down inside me and choose to be a strong believer---- to believe that God made me a new creation and that, through Christ, I am empowered to do and be and say things that are reflective of the same love and grace I received from God.

To be ready means to then put my faith into action--- to make visible what I believe in my heart.  This means to love my neighbor; to help the needy; to welcome the stranger; to inspire the hopeless; to teach the seeker; to care for the sick.

And if I can believe and if my faith is reflected in my actions (for faith without works is dead), then when Jesus does come back, I can only hope that He will have a white robe for me to put on and a place around His throne so we can have a historic worship service.

Is God coming soon?  Let’s assume He is.  As a result, let’s be ready just in case that assumption tends to be correct.  And if it isn’t correct, then when this life is over at least we can say we lived by faith and hope that God’s grace is sufficient to fill in the gaps.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Come See God's Face!

Hello Emmanuel,

THIS SUNDAY!!!  It’s National Back To Church Sunday!  You are invited to worship with each other at 9:00 or 10:30.  A light breakfast will be served in the Fellowship Hall.  Free food tastes best!

September has brought a new change to my newsletter.  September will be Ask Pastor Joe instead of Monday Morning Pulpit.  Submit your questions to me via email at pastorjoe@emmanuel-umc.com.  I’ll give you an answer.  Who knows?  It might be a good one.

How many people in the Bible have seen God face to face besides Moses?

It seems like a simple question…. And then….  Ugh!

Exodus 33:20 states that no one can see God’s face and live.  John 1:18 says no one has seen God except Jesus Christ.    But yet 33:11 says Moses talked to God in the Tent of Meeting ‘face to face.’…. ????    what????

There are other biblical examples of people ‘seeing God’, though always in a certain form.  Jacob saw God appearing as a man (Gen 32:30).  In Judges 13, Sampson’s parents saw God ‘as an angel’.  And, of course, Jesus is believed to be God ‘in the flesh’.  Also, the Bible states that ‘the LORD appeared to Abraham’; ‘the LORD visited Sarah’; ‘Enoch walked with God’; ‘the LORD appeared to Isaac’; on and on….

The question is a difficult one because of how we interpret God’s presence with someone.  Often, we do not think in the literal.  We can think in spiritual terms as if ‘feeling’ God’s presence among us.  One could even argue that Moses did not actually see God ‘face to face’, but that ‘face to face’ is simply describing the kind of relationship they had (i.e. ‘as a man speaks to a friend – Exodus 33:11).

So my answer is that no one else has actually seen God’s face and maybe not even Moses.  I give this answer because, consistently, the Scripture describes how God’s glory is so fierce and awesome that we could not see it in its entirety and live.  God does appear to us, but only in ways that we can comprehend.

And the best avenue to comprehending God is to look at and speak ‘face to face’ with Jesus.  Of all the examples of God appearing to people, I believe Jesus is the closest we can come to seeing God’s face.  He is God incarnate and One who is willing to speak to you ‘face to face’.  Go into your ‘Tent of Meeting’ and have that relationship. 

To read more, go to http://www.immanuelapproach.com/2012/08/15/people-in-scripture-who-saw-god-appendix-5/.  It describes in more detail about God’s appearances in the Bible.

In the meantime, consider how God may appear to you today.  Pay attention!  Don’t miss Him!

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Ask Pastor Joe: The Ethnic Dilemma

Hello Emmanuel,

September has brought a new change to my newsletter.  September will be Ask Pastor Joe instead of Monday Morning Pulpit.  Submit your questions to me via email at pastorjoe@emmanuel-umc.com.  I’ll give you an answer.  Who knows?  It might be a good one.

If Noah and his family repopulated the earth, how are there red, yellow, black and white people?

When this question came to me, I thought ‘Oh no!’  This goes into the category of really tough questions that seek to align biblical narrative with science.  There are often no easy answers and sometimes no good answers.  The truth is that this is a highly debatable subject with no clear-cut answer.  Noah, his wife, his 3 sons and their wives went about repopulating the world after the flood.  So how did various ethnicities come about?  So let me give you a couple of theories and then my perspective.

The first theory revolves around the wives of Noah’s sons.  There are no details on who they were or where they were from.  There isn’t any mention of how many wives Noah’s sons had.  They could have had more than one, solving the problem of the science of DNA.  In addition, ethnicity was not described.  They could have been of any race.  This allows for the ark to hold people of various ethnicities and thus having children of various ethnicities over the course of their lives (which was hundreds of years).  This doesn’t solve the apparent problem of incest, but that wasn’t related to the question, so I don’t have to answer that… whew!

The second theory is not as popular with conservative traditionalists.  It considers that the flood didn’t cover the entire world.  It only covered the world as the author of Genesis saw it (or as the tellers of the flood story saw it).  Certainly, in those days, a person’s world-view was much different than ours.  We understand the world as a globe with hundreds of thousands of miles of land.  In those days, a person’s ‘world’ would have been only a large region; maybe as big as the area now known as the Middle East, but maybe not even that big.  They certainly didn’t see the world as a planetary body.  As a result, other areas of the world as we know it would still have been populated, allowing for the ‘world’ to be repopulated and allowing for various ethnicities.

A third and even less popular theory revolves around the literary approach to communicating God’s grace.   That is, the ‘truth’ in the story is that God is a gracious God, but also a God who has standards of living.  The accuracy of the details of the flood story is insignificant compared to the truth that God gets angry at a world that denies Him, but allows for a new start when people turn to Him.  Those who only embrace the large point of the story are less concerned about the problems in the details.

So where am I at?  Once I found myself getting lost in the details, I heard God tell me to get focused on what God says is important.  A long time ago I decided to identify the major themes of the Biblical narrative.  I identified these themes, put them in a process and called it the Discipleship Pathway.  Many of you call it the Circle Chart.  Noah’s story is one of justice, grace and promises.  I am content on relying on that. 

Stay tuned to next week.  Another question.  More answers.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Careful What You Believe

Hello Emmanuel,

September will bring a new change to my newsletter.  September will be Ask Pastor Joe instead of Monday Morning Pulpit.  Submit your questions to me via email at pastorjoe@emmanuel-umc.com.  I’ll give you an answer.  Who knows?  It might be a good one.

If you worry about the worst; look for the worst; expect the worst; then the worst just might happen.  In counseling terms this is called ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’.  Self-fulfilling prophecy is when believing something hard enough causes behavior changes that actually bring that something to fruition.

I used to think this was a bunch of bunk.  I don’t anymore.

I once talked to a person who had emotional wounds from being abandoned as a child.  Her dad, mom, sister and first husband all walked out of her life without any provocation on her part.  She had very little in any kind of support network.  Needless to say, she lived in fear of other people abandoning her as well.

The result is that her defense mechanisms disallowed her to get close to anyone.  She was constantly on her guard, wanting to prevent any further emotional scars from anyone else.  In short, her behavior actually encouraged her fears to be realized and people began distancing themselves from her as a result of her actions.  She was scared of more people leaving her life and her fear caused her to behave in such a way that made her fears become realized…. Self-fulfilling prophecy.

I wonder if we Christians can turn that psychological phenomenon on its head and make it a positive force.  If you believe firmly enough that the Church is the hands and feet of God, would that not cause you to behave in such a manner that would cause the Church to be the hands and feet of God?  Would believing that God loves you make you more loving?  Would believing that God forgives you make you more forgiving?  I wonder.  The link of faith to behavior is not that far of a journey.  Indeed, it may be one in the same.  ‘Faith without works is dead’.  Hmmmm…

I invite you to believe really hard!  Expect the best from God.  Maybe the result of such faith will bring out the best in you.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Ask Pastor Joe Month

Hello Emmanuel,

This is your chance.  August is Ask Pastor Joe Month.  Throughout September, I am going to go about answering any question you have for me.  I have already received 8 different questions of various types.  ‘How did Noah and his family repopulate the world’?  ‘Does God Hate The Bengals?’  ‘What is meant by ‘Holy Ground?’  ‘Would God be pleased by how we use our riches?’

You have about 2 weeks to submit any question you’d like.  I promise that I will answer it in some form (sermon, blog, email, etc).  I will not reveal who submitted the questions.  They can cover any topic or issue that you would like. 

I am interested in what questions you have in mind.  You can write your question on paper and submit it in the offering plate; email me at pastorjoe@emmanuel-umc.com; call me at 833-5219; or communicate to me in any other form that I can understand (in other words, no smoke signals or languages besides English).

Am I worried?  Yes.  I don’t doubt that heavy research is in my future.  I also expect some questions to be very personal while other questions will be on topics I have never considered.  Either way, I look forward to it.  Our spirituality should not be void of asking all kinds of questions and searching for the answers.  It is one way that I believe prayers can be answered.  So ask away!

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Value the Lasts

Hello Emmanuel,

This coming school year is a year of lasts.  Joey is a senior and, with it, comes all the last things he’ll do.  He’s already had his last band camp (and had the joy of having his sister join him).  Soon it will be his last first day of school; his last second day of school; his last fooball game; his last parade; his last Fall concert; his last Christmas break; his last…..

This will be the 4^th time Kim and I have gone through a year of lasts.  We seem to appreciate and value more the senior year than any of the other years.  Why is that?

Today will be the last August 8^th, 2016 that I will ever experience.  Shouldn’t I value today like any other last?  Unfortunately we get into a mode where every day seems like any day.  The truth of it is that each day is unique.  No day is like any other day.  No year is like any other year.  The uniqueness that time brings us should be cherished as if we will not see its like again…. Because we will not.

After High School, Joey will go to college and we will see another 4 year cycle (please, God, let it be only 4 years).  We will see more lasts as you see more lasts on this very day.  I invite you to cherish each moment of this gift of life.  Treat the moment like you’ll never see it again because you won’t ever see it again.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Questions and Answers

Hello Emmanuel,

One of the tasks of a pastor, I believe, is to speak to the heart of those who come seeking answers.  It’s a part of my job that is the most challenging and also the most rewarding.  I don’t always have answers and, if I do, there isn’t any guarantee they are the right answers.  However, I do try to always give a biblical perspective on tough questions and hope it at least feeds the soul a little bit.

During the month of August, you are invited to submit to me your questions.  The questions can be about anything and be as tough or as easy as you want to make them.  Theological, social, political, athletic, comical, arbitrary, spiritual, historical…. Anything.

Come September, I will make the attempt to answer every question, be it in a sermon, email, blog or otherwise.  You can send me your questions via email at pastorjoe@emmanuel-umc.com or you can write them on a piece of paper and put them in the offering plate.

Yes, I know, I’ve opened myself up for all kinds of stuff.  I’m okay with it as long as you are okay receiving all kinds of answers.  I look forward to this.  It may be a little fun.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Insanity

Hello Emmanuel,

The definition of ‘insanity’ is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.  This can apply to churches as well as to anything or anyone else.  I talked to a pastor last week about his church.  He is one of 70 staff people who lead a congregation of 5,500 people in the Baltimore area.  Once my eyes stopped bulging from my head, I started asking all kinds of questions.  The first was ‘how’?

‘You can’t be afraid to do things differently.’  The church he works for has to start a new church every year to sustain their current pace of growth.  This obviously overwhelmed my head and so I asked another question:   ‘how’?

‘You can’t be afraid to do things differently.’  It was a common theme in our discussion and, of course, my mind went to Emmanuel.  I don’t want to say that we are stuck in a rut, but the reality is that we are stuck in a rut.  I won’t say that it is a bad rut as far as ruts go.  I’ve been in ruts where there is no productivity and no pursuit of the purpose of the church.  That is not Emmanuel.  We have our missions and worship and small groups and so on and so on.  But are we in a rut?

As we consider the future of the church, I wonder if we really need to sit around the table and have serious conversation about where Emmanuel is headed.  Do we need to do some things differently?  Are we in danger of becoming content and satisfied with the status quo?  Are we afraid to do things differently?

Maybe it is time to get our creative juices flowing.  Maybe it is time to jump out of the box and ask the question, ‘what next?’.  God is not a status quo God.  God is someone who likes change and sometimes even demands it.  What ‘something different’ is He calling you to do?  And are you too afraid to follow through?

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Did I Have A Heart Attack?

Hello Emmanuel,

So I started walking through our neighborhood again in order to get more exercise.  One of my neighbors saw me walking in the morning and then again in the afternoon and then again in the evening.  The third time he saw me, he waved again and asked, ‘did you have a heart attack’?

While I found the comment funny, I did sort of dwell on the idea that he was being a bit serious.  He did have a heart attack which prompted him to do more exercising.  I have not had a heart attack, but it occurred to me that by exercising more, I may be preventing one. 

So then my walk took me through the cemetery where I see all the names and dates of the dead, some of which had a heart attack.  This is when I started getting real with my mortality.  Faith gets a whole lot more serious when you consider your short stay in this world. 

When I came to Emmanuel 7 years ago, the church had a rather extensive list of Senior Blessings….. those who just couldn’t get out and about like they used to or wanted to.  This morning I got a call that Bill Zurhmehly passed away.  The list of Senior Blessings has shortened considerably.  Once again the Care Team will be doing what they do best…. Comforting those who mourn.

So I am reminded again of how precious is life.  God calls us to treat it as such, be it to take care of our bodies, our minds or our souls.  Give thanks to God today that you continue to experience the gift.  May you take full advantage.

Bill’s celebration of life will be at the church.  Visitation will be Wednesday, 10:00 – 11:00 with the funeral service starting at 11:00.  There will be no lunch following the service.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Lakeside Again.... Yea?

Hello Emmanuel,

As I prepare for another West Ohio Annual Conference at Lakeside, my feelings are mixed as usual.  Certainly, from a personal standpoint, there are the traditional family things that we do:  ice cream, shuffleboard, ice  cream, kite flying, ice cream, throwing rock in Lake Erie and the ever-popular ice cream. 

However, conference is more than that.  It is meeting together as 1,100 churches and deciding on what God wants us to do.  And if history is any indication, we will agree some and disagree a lot.  Yes, we will worship and, yes, we will pray together.  And, yes, we will debate.  It’s the latter that I often do not look forward.

It isn’t that I don’t like to debate.  Indeed, I really like to debate…. But only when it is for constructive reasons.  Most of the reasons to debate don’t necessarily entail construction.  People sometimes debate because they want to be right or want to gain influence/power or just like the rush of winning an argument.  These things don’t excite me.

It’s no huge secret that my attendance at legislative session is… ummm… inconsistent.  This isn’t an arbitrative decision on my part.  After about 10 years of my 20 years of conferencing, I decided that I was doing to spend my time debating things that directly impact what God wants me to do.  If the session isn’t going to impact how I am a leader in the Church, then what other constructive reasons are there to sit for 5 hours listening and considering?

I invite you to pray for conference this year.  Pray that our time is wisely spent.  This does not include spending 45 minutes figuring out what kind of letter to send our congressman or spending an hour debating who we should love or thinking over the difference of a 17 million dollar budget versus a 16.8 million dollar budget.  Constructive conferencing should include how to create and sustain a process/organization that is called to help people follow Jesus more closely and make more disciples that follow Jesus more closely.  Constructive conferencing should entail how to enliven a Church that has been dying for the last 40 years.  How do we stay culturally relevant?  How do we rid the gap between apathetic agnostics and faithful believers? 

When I call a meeting at church, I don’t do it lightly.  People are busy doing important things.  So the meeting better be important.  Likewise, I hope that this 4 day meeting is important.  I will gladly sit and listen.  Otherwise, I just might go fly a kite.

Be in prayer for West Ohio and the United Methodist Church

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

The Privilege of Being Your Pastor

Hello Emmanuel,

As I walk with you in a faith-filled journey, I have the unique perspective of watching your stories unfold, even when few others see what is happening.  I see it as an honor and am humbled by it.  I also don’t take for granted the trust that is involved in allowing me the privilege of walking with you. 

I get to see your joys.  One of the little rewards of my Call is to see your authentic smiles when they appear.  The birth of a child; a baptism; a graduation; a bill of good health; a thank-you—these are moments that fuel me and help me have a glad day.  Some of you are having good days right now.  Cherish them.  I believe God sends them to us for reasons beyond just the reasons themselves.  He helps us build momentum to get over the next mountain.  Take full advantage.

I also get to see your sadness.  The story of Emmanuel is never one-sided.  I know many of the struggles some of you are having on this very day.  At times it even goes beyond sadness to angst…. Or a sort of a deep heartache that seemingly no one can fix.  Perhaps worse are those moments that could be fixed, but perhaps will not be.  I pray for you today.

I also see your anger, comfort, frustration, relief, hope, embarrassment and love.  I know I don’t see it all, but I am still honored when you trust me and let me be a part of your faith journey.  And while I, too, have my various events in life, I am content to continue walking with you.  For me, that is the essence of community for which we were all made. 

So whether you are happy or sad today, consider the big picture and now that you are loved.  No single event in a person’s day defines them, even if it feels like it at the time.  What defines us is how we walk our journey and with whom we walk.  Over the course of time, that is how we are defined.

May God walk with you.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

A Wonderful Yucky Day

Hello Emmanuel,

Happy rainy, yucky Monday.  I admit, I don’t relate with a lot of people and their perspective on Mondays.  My work week doesn’t start on Monday.  I’m not sure when it starts.  Sunday?  Wednesday?  I guess it depends on what my week entails.  Either way, I know most normal people see Monday as the beginning of another week of working to pay off bills. 

Still, that doesn’t mean it can’t be a happy one.  Consider that, on Monday, the week is still a blank slate.  You have some influence on how it will go.  By Wednesday or Thursday, you will have already decided how your week has gone and there is no changing that.  But today?  Today you get the opportunity to try and make your week go as well as you can.  Be optimistic.

Optimism is something I had to learn.  It wasn’t a default in our home or community growing up.  If I were honest, I’d admit that I initially decided to be optimistic in order to rebel against the negative status quo.  Once I learned that optimism had its own perks, I stuck with it.  Then I became a pastor…. Hmmmm…

I saw in a recent blog that pastoring is a highly discouraging career.  I won’t disagree, however I don’t think that is so unlike other professions.  It’s too easy for many working people to become the abject pessimist around their work for various reasons:  people don’t think; the job doesn’t pay; there is no room to grow; it’s boring; the boss is bossy; the work place is a mess; someone stole my lunch….. blah, blah, blah.

But it’s Monday.  No one has yet decided how your week will go.  And while you may not have much to say about what happens around you, you have everything to say about your attitude.  Think like God has been good to you.  Walk like God has been good to you.  Talk like God has been good to you.  Live like it.  You might be surprised.  You might become someone’s ray of sunshine on a gray, wet, yucky Monday. 

Besides, God HAS been good to you.  Isn’t that all the reason you need to be the optimist?

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

6 x 6 x 100

Hello Emmanuel,

The word for the day is ‘empower’.

I used to think that one of my many tasks as a pastor was to empower people.  It was enjoyable for me to help someone help themselves.  And then I found something even better.  I discovered the enjoyment of empowering people to empower people.  When I was able to help people help other people to help themselves, I found I could multiply the ministry of the Good News.  Wow!

And now I’ve been trying to add another layer:  empower people to empower people to empower people.  It really isn’t as complicated as it sounds.  I just help people to help people so they can help other people help themselves.  The effects of such a task can be incredibly rewarding.  For example….

If I invite you to buy a pencil and bring it to church on Sunday and then we take that pencil and give it to a teacher.  And then that teacher gives it to a student.  Then that student can help themselves by doing their school work and learn how to learn. 

And what if it wasn’t just 1 pencil, but a pack of 6 pencils?  And not just 1 pack, but 6 packs (of pencils, that is).  And what if we don’t just give 6 packs to 1 teacher, but 6 packs (of pencils, that is) to 6 teachers, who can then help 36 students each to help themselves.  That’s 36 x 6…. Ummm….  216 Students????

And what if it wasn’t just you, but 100 people who did this…. And helped not 6 teachers, 60 teachers?  Let’s see…. 100 people x 6 packs (of pencils, that is) = 600 packs or 3,600 pencils. 

I wonder how many pencils are used in a typical elementary class.  How many classes does 3,600 pencils help?  How many teachers does that empower? 

True, it’s just a pencil, but ask a teacher how important a pencil is.  They’ll tell you.

I invite you to bring a pencil to church.  I want to empower you to empower others to empower others to help themselves. 

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Word For The Day Is....

Hello Emmanuel,

The word for the day is ‘blah’.  Ever have those moments when you just feel like you are going through the motions for no apparent reason other than there is nothing else to do?  It sort has that feel of ‘Groundhog Day’, for you Bill Murray fans.  I haven’t figured it all out yet, but I have those moments and today is one of them. 

Every time I have this feeling, I find myself asking the all-important questions of my existence (is this a mid-life crisis thing?).  Who am I?  What is my purpose?  What is God’s intentions for my life?  These questions always bring me back around and I, once again, start feeling like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.  I don’t always know why, except to say that I know what I know and I don’t know what I don’t know.  Therefore, could my conclusion be anything else?

Now maybe some of you don’t want such a deep philosophical MMP to start your week.  I would like to avoid it myself.  However, my ‘blah’ days give me little choice.  I am driven to find deeper meanings in life and I hope you are too.  We are not just creatures with instinct only.  We have the self-awareness to go beneath the surface of just surviving and delve into the realm of things like progress and fulfillment and productivity.

And then there is our faith in a high power.  At worst, we think there might be a possibility that we are not alone in the universe.  At best, we believe it with our whole soul.  And believing in God prompts us to ask those big questions that transcend any blah day and take us to a divine place that refuses to let us ever think life is just a bunch of motions.

Think deep.  Believe deep.  What you might think is a normal, average, blah day is a day that is full of life and opportunity.  God has something for you today.  Don’t let your apathy keep you from seeing it.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Holy Headaches

Hello Emmanuel,

I have a headache.  I’m sure it is no fault of any of you.  That isn’t to say that pastors don’t get headaches because crazy church people.  It’s just that all of you are rarely… I mean… never crazy.  Still, my head hurts.

I can’t always identify why I get a headache.  They say that stress can play a big role, but I find that, for me, it is often the weather.  Specifically, rainy and cool weather will do it.  I think it has something to do with the barometric pressure.  I don’t know.  I’m no scientist.  I just know when my head hurts.  (and, by the way, my knee aches in late October too).

I wonder if God ever gets a headache.  Not physically speaking, but metaphorically I wonder if he puts His hand to His forehead, squeezes His eyes closed and massages His temples.  And, if so, are any of us to blame?  Does God get stressed?  And from whence does His stress originate?

Adam and Eve ate the fruit.  Ever since then, we have our moments when we might get a little overly ambitious or think we know better when we don’t.  Then we play the ‘oops’ card and that is when I imagine God massaging His temple. 

As we continue the Easter season, it continues to be a season for resurrection.  Living new life is more than just starting over, it is learning to live more godly lives based off of all our ‘oops’ moments.  It isn’t just getting a fresh start.  It is getting an opportunity for a fresher life.  Learn from your mistakes.  Be intentional about doing better next time.  Say ‘thank you’ to God by saying more loving words; being gentler with your actions; having more awareness that God is sitting next to you; planning for a more godly future.

What can you do today that will make God’s headache a little less painful?  Go do it.  There is a good chance you’ll help someone else’s headache too.  And it might be mine.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

New Life on Opening Day

Hello Emmanuel,

Today isn’t a national holiday, but it is a local one.  The Reds start a new season, albeit without a super positive outlook.  Opening Day, however, is a day that I have always looked forward to, dating way back to my childhood when I would run home from school to catch the last 3 innings or so (skipping school was always a secret option of mine, but not one I dared to risk).

Baseball has always been a big part of my life.  The diamond was a sanctuary for me, of sorts.  It was a place I could escape all of life’s other complications.  To be able to only focus on the game was a breath of fresh air.  And ever since then, baseball has been a reminder of sanctuary.

The Easter season is a season of sanctuaries.  It starts with the empty tomb, a place where you can escape the grasp of death and hope for life.  However, Easter doesn’t stop at the tomb.  As stated in the current sermons series, hoping for life should turn into pursuing life.  Witnessing resurrection should turn into being resurrected, not for some future event, but starting right now.  Where is your sanctuary now?  And how are you taking advantage of new life in Christ?

There are many ways to live into resurrection.  We have already discussed community and spiritual wellbeing.  I invite you to attend throughout April as we discuss other areas of livelihood that, for some, need resurrection.  I invite you to come to Emmanuel’s sanctuary and focus on the Christ.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

P.S.  For anyone who may be interested, the Care Team is looking for someone to visit the Senior Blessings in April.  Contact Bonnie Honchel at 752-4052 or 259-6995.

It Gets Even Better

Hello Emmanuel,

What a great day yesterday!  7 Baptisms.  9 new members.  3 re-affirmations.  Can it get any better?  Yes, it can…. As soon as next weekend.

The reason yesterday could be so great is because of next Sunday.  Easter gives us reason to celebrate God’s grace.  Easter weekend is full of activity (Breakfast 8:15-10:30; Services at 9:00 and 10:30).  With the egg hunt on Saturday (1:00 at Batavia Township Park), it makes it even more exciting.  We will be inviting, welcoming, inspiring and teaching what new life is all about.

Oh…. And then there is Thursday.  Thursday doesn’t get as much of the attention as Sunday does, for obvious reasons.  However, consider the significance of this Thursday in your walk through this week of holiness.  Before the tragedy of Friday and the miracle of Sunday is the somber fellowship of Thursday.  Jesus spends time with His friends and His friends don’t entirely understand why. 

I invite you to come Thursday at 7:00 to spend time with some friends and to understand why.  We celebrate fellowship.  We remember Jesus last moments before the weekend.  We consider the meaning of His words as we look forward to resurrection.  You are invited to commune with us.  Perhaps it is the primer you need for…

Resurrection of Well Being….

It is the new Sunday sermon series that will explore what resurrection means for you right now.  New life is present, not just a future hope.  Are you living like you have a new start?  The empty tomb certainly gives you reason to do such.  We will look into the why’s and why nots; the how’s and how not’s; and soaking up the encouragement that Jesus gives us.  You are invited to be inspired with us. 

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Sunday is Coming

Hello Emmanuel,

Before I forget to type this:  March 20^th will have only one worship service:  10:00.  There will be water flying, banners waving and people committing to Jesus.  Car pool if you can.  Extra parking will be at the airport with a shuttle going back and forth.  You don’t want to miss it!

No matter what your week will be like, Sunday is coming.

Sometimes you have weeks filled with conversations you would just rather not have.  Perhaps the conversations are important, necessary and even beneficial, but not all conversations are pleasant.  There are times when unpleasant conversations are unexpected, which makes it more difficult to cope with the week.  Other times they are planned, leaving time to have angst over what might and might not be said.  Either way….

Sunday is coming.

I have a list on my phone that I will look at frequently the next 6 days.  It is a list of all who will be getting baptized and/or joining the church.  Next Sunday is one of those days that will remind me why I have conversations.  It will teach me yet again why God’s Call on my life is irrevocable.  We will watch faith being expressed in authentic and heart-felt ways.  Souls are going to share their commitment to Christ with all of Emmanuel.  Many of you will have a moment of joy (and some of you will shed happy tears…. You and I know who you are).

Sunday is coming.

It will be a full parking lot, a full church, and a full time together.  I invite you, encourage you to attend.  Yes, we will be squished together, but it will be a day when you, too, will be reminded why you have conversations and that God’s Call on your life is also irrevocable.

Sunday is coming……. And it will be a wet one…

God is Good,

Pastor Joe

Too Much Cemetery

Hello Emmanuel,

Before I forget to type this:  March 20^th will have only one worship service:  10:00.  There will be water flying, banners waving and people committing to Jesus.  Car pool if you can.  Extra parking will be at the airport with a shuttle going back and forth.  You don’t want to miss it!

I’m seeing more and more of the cemetery.  When we first moved to Batavia 7 years ago, there was a small, but heavily wooded area directly across the street from us.  We would also see wildlife, even the occasional deer roaming around, wary of us humans.  However, last Summer things began to change.  Men started the noisy act of clearing out that wooded area.  Slowly and surely the trees have been removed.  The larger trees still stand, but it is now clear what is on the other side:  a cemetery.

I’m not exactly thrilled to wake up every morning, look out my front window and see tombstones.  I get reminded often enough of my own mortality just in my every day grind of leading a church.  And while I even enjoy the stillness (no pun intended) of a cemetery, there is such a thing as too much quiet (again, no attempt to be funny). 

So this Easter will be different for me.  On March 27^th, I will leave the morbid ground of my home and make my way to a life-filled church.  How appropriate! 

Do you have too much cemetery in your day?  Are you looking forward to March 27^th?  For me, death might be right across the street, but life is right around the corner.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe