Grace and peace to each of you in the name of the one who cannot fail, Jesus the Christ!

Living into “Who’s got your back?”  
Part 2

Today we will celebrate the success of three “Who’s got your back?” initiatives.  I am thankful for the support of these three events and I look forward to exploring all the other ways God is calling us to have the backs of those closest to us as well as those we will never meet.  In this week after Thanksgiving, I would like to give thanks for:

Forgotten Harvest update:  This month the Sunday school raised $21 and the coffee can on my office door yielded $62 for a grand total of $83 given to the people of Forgotten Harvest.  Remember, this initiative began through the Spiritual Vitamins and has grown each month.  It involves taking a few dollars each week, money you would have spent on a treat for yourself such as a fancy cup of coffee or a midday treat, and donating it to the folks at Forgotten Harvest.  For each dollar donated, FH creates a meal for five people in our local community.  That is a lot of bang for your buck!  The can will remain on my office door if you would like to start participating in this worthwhile cause.  The results for this month were as follows:
Money donated:  $83
Meals created:    415

This is awesome.  For the month of November, we were only $17 away from being able to donate 500 meals to those in need.  Thanks be to God! 

Thanksgiving Can Drive update:  I was so moved by the response to my challenge of donating 510 canned goods to the folks at Gleaners food bank, who in turn distribute the food locally to those in need.  When we were all done, 664 cans were donated by the people of POG for our neighbors in need.  On November 28th, Ron Carmona and Clyde Hietikko delivered the 664 cans to Gleaners, weighing 695 pounds, which will provide 533 meals to needy families in our area.  FYI, In the last year Gleaners has distributed 40,400,000 pounds of food through just 5 locations in Southeast Michigan!  Thanks be to God!

For you number crunchers out there, in the month of November POG gave almost 1,000 meals to those in need!

Hot Rocks Pizza fund raiser:  I was overjoyed when I pulled up to Hot Rocks Pizza to participate in the fundraiser for Madison and her family and saw the place was jammed packed!  I love that I had to squeeze my way in to place my order.  It is exactly what is supposed to happen at fundraiser such as this one, wall to wall people supporting a good cause.  I was so pleased to see so many folks from POG out there supporting one of our families.  As people mulled around and waited for their orders, it was overwhelming to see this outpouring of generosity by the people of POG.  If you were not able to participate this time, there will a larger spaghetti fundraiser in February to help Madison and her family with the on going costs of her treatment and all it entails.  Thanks be to God!

All in all, great job this month POG.  Take some time today to be thankful for our church and its generous heart, but lets not let this leave us satisfied.  There is so much we can do, and I am looking forward to how God will continue to lead the people of POG to be God’s lights in the world.

Peace
PB

Peace,
PB

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Grace and peace to each of you in the name of the one who cannot fail, Jesus the Christ!

Living into “Whose got your back?” 
Part One

For this weeks Spiritual Vitamin we will begin exploring the different facets of “whose got your back?”  Part one will focus on having the backs of people we will never meet.  It begins with and idea like Forgotten Harvest, quilts for Lutheran World Relief and so on.  As a people of faith, God calls us to cast our caring net far and wide as He empowers us to be impact people in our church, our community and the world.  God calls us to put on our thinking caps in this regard.  We should be a people who are always looking for ways we can make an impact in the lives of others, even those we may never meet.

Today I wan’t to introduce such an initiative.  Starting this Sunday through December 9th,  a table in the Narthex will contain Christmas cards that were graciously donated by my brother in law who works for Avanti Greeting Card company.  The purpose of these card is simple.  We will have the opportunity to send a Christmas message to our troops through a Red Cross program called “Holiday mail for heroes”. This program will send our greeting to personnel serving in our armed forces throughout the world as well as veterans and their families.

The cards should be addressed to:
Holiday mail for Heroes
PO Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD
20791-5456

The Red Cross provides these additional guidelines:
Ensure that all cards are signed
Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member.”  Cards addressed to specific people will not be delivered.
Only cards are being accepted.  Do not send letters.
Do no include email or home addresses on the cards
Do not include inserts of any kind.
Do not send holiday cards with glitter as they can interfere with patient recovery should your card reach a service person who is hospitalized.

All of this information will be on the table with the cards.  

I think this initiative is a wonderful way for the people of POG to let our troops know we are thinking about them this Christmas season.  It is a unique way to let them know we have their backs and wish them well.

Have a blessed week.

Peace,
PB 

Peace,
PB

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Grace and peace to each of you in the name of the one who cannot fail, Jesus the Christ!

This Sunday will mark almost ten months since we joined together as pastor and congregation.  It has been an exciting time and I have appreciated the way my family has been welcomed into your midst.  Some days it seems difficult to believe it has only ten months!

On that first Sunday we were together I preached about helping POG to cultivate a culture where we would “have each others back”.  It became the unofficial logo for our new spirit wear and I have repeated it over and over again.  I am glad it caught on, because it is, at its core, what I believe the church could be, a place where people from different walks of life with different opinions and styles would come together in love and support of one another under the wing of the one who ultimately has our back, Jesus the Christ!

Now that we are ten months in, it is a good time to check in and access how we are doing living into this motto.  It is a good time to ask ourselves what it means at Prince of Glory to have “each others back”.  I am sure there are many answers at this point as to what that exactly means for each person, but as a corporate body of believers I am wondering what we are doing well as well as what we could be doing better to live out this motto?  Are we feeling blessed to be a part of POG?  Are we being intentional about being a blessing to others?  How are we celebrating the joys that come with being part of a community of faith?  How are we reacting to the needs of those we gather with to worship the God who sent us Jesus?   These are all good questions that we will continue to flush out over the next few months.

As we move forward in faith, I feel that connecting with others who gather together each week is vital to cultivating a “got your back” culture.  To that end, I would like to give you some tips with regard to how this could be accomplished:
1.  pick a few people at POG and pray for them each day for the next month.  Try to not just to pick people you are currently closest too.  Pick two or three people and pray for them.  Pray that their lives would be blessed.  Pray that they would feel loved.  Pray that God would direct their paths.  Pray that they would feel God’s presence in their lives.  Pray that if something is weighing them down, it would be lifted.  Pray for relief from any stress they may be feeling.  Pray that they would feel a community of faith “had their back”.  After a month, let them know you were praying for them.
2.  Share three minutes before or after worship each week connecting with someone new or someone you don’t know well.  Get to know some of our newer members or someone you may have known for a long time at a distance in a whole new way.
3.  Commit each week to calling ,sending a card, email or text message to two or three people you know in the congregation just to let them know you are thinking about them.
4.  I know many of you go out to breakfast or lunch after worship each week.  Invite others you don’t normally break bread with to join you.

I am privileged to serve the people of POG.  I really feel God is calling us to something big.  I think the road to something big starts with small steps.  I believe God led me to make the statement that we need to be a church that “has each others back” the first week I worshipped with you.  I would like to see us continue to dig deeper into what this means and model it for one another and to those we will welcome through the doors of POG in the months and years ahead.  

As we look back at the last ten months and move forward in faith to the big things God has in store for us, I hope you feel your pastor loves you and “has your back”!

Peace,
PB

Peace,
PB

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FORGOTTEN HARVEST UPDATE:  Great job POGers, in October we raised $25 in Sunday School and $53 in the coffee can on my office for a grand total of $78 for the work of Forgotten Harvest.  That means that FH will be able to produce 365 meals through our generosity!  Thanks to everyone who has been supporting this social ministry.  Remember, this ministry started when I asked people in a previous Spiritual Vitamin to take one day a week and instead of buying that cup of coffee, soft drink or treat while you were out I asked you to forego it and give the money to FH.  If you want to help out, place your “sacrifice” in the coffee can on my office door and it will be included in the November donation.  We were only $7 dollars away from hitting the 400 meal mark in October!  Thanks be to God.

Recently some friends on facebook posted the following quote from an anonymous source.  I was instantly moved and wondered what I would do with the feeling I was having about the question.  It is as follows:

“Sometimes I would like to ask God why he allows poverty, famine and injustice in the world, when He could do something about it…but I’m afraid He may ask me the same question.” Anonymous.

The quote is both powerful and convicting at the same time.  How often to we ask God the questions that we do not want to ask of ourselves?  I wish there was an easy answer, but there is not.  I do know, however, that there are things we could, or should, as a people of faith, speak out about or advocate for, but all too often we remain silent or inactive.  All too often it is easy to get wrapped up in other things or create distractions so that we do not have to think about the people that God calls us to be, people who are steeped in love and grace.  God calls us to be instruments of change in our world, to live lives that reflect the gift of grace given to us through His son Jesus Christ.  

I am sure if we really tried we could come up with a lot of reasons why we cannot step into the fray.  It could be that the problems of the world seem too overwhelming for any one person or group to tackle.  It could be that the things we see cause us to feel helpless to make a difference.  Yet, everyday God blesses us with glimpses into how His kingdom could be, gives us sightings of God alive in the world.  These are blessings that remind us that as people of faith we can make a difference if we step out of our comfort zones and act.  

Sometimes, those acts can seem meaningless when we do them, but they add up.  Look at our little new social ministry project with Forgotten Harvest.  Two months ago, a weekly Spiritual Vitamin e-mail followed by a can attached to a door and a group of young people dedicating funds from a Sunday school in Madison Heights, Michigan resulted in a month where because we acted, because we did something with our change and sacrifices a treat one day in the course of a week, 375 meals will be given to people in need.  People we will most likely never meet.  People whose faces we will never see.

Yet, if we really think about it,  we have seen the faces of the hungry.  We know that poverty is a problem all over the world.  We know it is at our doorstep as well.   Our monthly donation to the Oakland County branch of Forgotten Harvest is making a difference.  We are being a blessing to others.  And this ministry is growing.  It is an opportunity to be instruments of change in the lives of those we are called to love and serve, the people of God.  It all started with an idea and a coffee can. 

Is God nudging you to take a chance, to do something and let people know of a way that a difference can be made for others?  Is God calling you to step out in faith and see the blessing that can result from your action?  You see, when people of faith step out in faith, we are not alone.  We are directed by a God who calls us to action, to step into the fray and make a difference, and has our back through it all.  What is the fray God is calling you to? 

Have a blessed week.

PB   

Peace,
PB

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Grace and peace to each of you in the name of the one who cannot fail, Jesus the Christ!

This week I want to focus on the concept of serving.  Serving our church and community is one of the Marks of Discipleship.  While that is a worthy phrase, servanthood does not need to be limited to certain activities or involvements.  Author John Ortberg writes about this very concept in his book Gifts.  He explains that every moment is an opportunity to be used by God and he challenges the reader to take a week and pray to God a “use me” prayer.  Here are a few ideas he suggests:

Begin each morning by inviting God to use you through the day.  Walk through the main events of your upcoming day with God in prayer.
Make yourself available to be used at home.  Look for ways you could be of service to those with whom you live.
Throughout the day as you begin a conversation, pray a secret “use me” prayer.  Listen for God’s promptings to encourage and support others.
Ask God to use you in the life of someone lost.
Make your work an exercise in being used by God.  Work with diligence-as if you were working directly for him.  Serve a coworker.
When you are interrupted, pause to see if this is an opportunity to be used by God through a moment of unplanned servanthood.
Be available to serve someone who is different than you.  Practice seeing them through Jesus‘ eyes. 

Friends, how is God calling you to serve Him this week?  Are you paying attention to that calling?  Could you give some time each day praying for God to “use me” as an instrument of His love today? 

As always, I pray for this list each week.  How could I be praying for you?

Have a blessed week!

Peace,
PB

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Grace and peace to each of you in the name of the one who cannot fail, Jesus the Christ!

I have been thinking a lot lately about discipleship.  I have been thinking about how I often mention the marks of discipleship from Pastor Mike Foss.  I may have said them enough that you could recite the six from memory.  It is nice to have a list of ways you can walk a disciples walk of faith.  It can be warm and cozy to fire off pray daily, read the Bible daily, worship weekly, serve your church and community, nurture spiritual relationships and give of our time, talent and resources as God directs you path.  Yet, what I am realizing as I think about this list, and how often I mention it, is that something is missing.  The missing piece is: how does one go about really living the list?  As an example, when I say pray daily, that seems pretty clear.  But, as one sits there and thinks about it, a natural inclination may be to wonder, “how do I do that’?  Most of the marks could fall into that same pattern.  How does the rubber meet the
road?  How do I put into action what I am saying I want to be about?  How do the marks come alive?  The answer is both easy and complicated at the same time:  practice, practice, practice.

Lets use prayer as an example.  Prayer, especially prayer out loud, can be daunting for many.  It involves vulnerability and risk.  You may have heard a person rattle off a prayer as if it were second nature, but would be willing to bet that the time you heard them was not their first time.  Prayer, especially a prayer that will be spoken, takes time to get comfortable doing.  Practice, practice, practice.  

I have been conducting an experiment for the last year or so regarding prayer.  I realized that as a pastor I eat out.  A lot.  One of the things that I do when I eat out is pray when the meal comes.  Whether I am by myself or with others, I take the time to practice prayer and to give thanks for the food placed before me.  In the last year I added a little twist as often as possible.  As the food arrives and the server is placing the proper dishes in front each person, I let them know that I am a person of faith,  will be praying before the meal, and wondered if there was anything I could pray for them about?  The response has been overwhelming.  Some of the servers look startled.  Some are wondering if their tip is riding on their answer.  Yet, more often than not they have a look on their face that says, “really, you really are asking me how you can pray for me?”  And then they open up.  From broken relationships, surgeries on the
horizon, employment opportunities, family who are ill, new pregnancies to concern for elderly parents, everyone seems to have a need for prayer and they allow this stranger they are serving in on their pain or joy.  It is so humbling and life giving at the same time.  People in the world around us need to be reminded that someone cares about them, that someone wants to know how they can help, and that the concern is genuine and authentic.  The first time I did this I stumbled a bit, but over time I have gotten much better.  It would not have happened if it were not for practice, practice, practice.

What Spiritual discipline is God calling on you to practice this week? 

As always, I pray for this list during the week.  How can I pray for you? 

Peace,
PB

Peace,
PB

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Grace and peace to each of you from the one who cannot fail, Jesus the Christ!

Forgotten Harvest update: As many of you may remember, a few weeks ago I wrote about taking a “fast day”, which is a day a week when I would not give myself the treat of a cup of coffee or soda from a convenience store or coffee house, instead donating that money to Forgotten Harvest. I mentioned that if anyone wanted to join me in this effort they could place their “sacrifice” in the coffee can that is now affixed to my office door (thank you Ron Carmona). I am happy to report that a few of you have joined me, as well as the Sunday school, who collected $32 this month to put toward providing meals for families in poverty. Remember, Forgotten Harvest can take each dollar we donate and turn it into FIVE meals for families in need. The total donation for the month of September is $42! Thanks to everyone who is participating and the can will remain on my office door if you would like to help out in October. $42 dollars for the month of September means that our church, through this ministry, will be providing 210 meals to families in need. Good job!

Last week I was able to go down to my seminary, Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, for a one day conference. On the drive down I was listening to sports talk radio. One of the guests on the show I was listening to that day was Mike Ditka. Mike is known as “Iron Mike” for his tough play on the field when he played for the Dallas Cowboys and for his fiery demeanor as a coach later in life. Today, he is a football analyst. Usually, I do not find these conversations very theological or life giving, mostly it just serves as a way to satisfy my need to engage in some football talk. On this particular day, as the segment was ending, they asked Mike how he was doing? Mike has faced some medical problems in the last few years and he was reflecting on how he lives his life today. He reminded me of something I have heard before, but never by a former rough and tough football star and coach with a nickname like “Iron Mike”. He said, “you know, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift, that is why they call it the present, I try to live each day reminding myself of this.”

Friends, what “Iron Mike” said is so true. As we live our lives each day, as we face what life throws at us and try to be the people God calls us to, I wonder how many of could use a philosophy adjustment like Mike had? What if we looked at the past, our history, looked to our future, with all its mystery, and focused on today, which is a “gift”, an opportunity to be God’s lights in the world. What if we viewed each day as a “present” given to us by God to enjoy this beautiful place He gave us to dwell in and to be agents of change in the world that surrounds us? Would how you lived your life change in any way? What if you viewed each day as a gift rather than just another day closer to a mysterious future? I invite you to join me in recognizing the “gift” God has given us of each day, and living it to the fullest being the people God has called us to be. What does that look like for you?

As always, I lift this list up in prayer weekly. How could I be praying for you?

Peace,
PB

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Grace and peace to each of you in the name of the one who cannot fail, Jesus the Christ!

Last Sunday in the adult forum we discussed the recent disclosure that the poverty rate in the U.S. has risen again.  We learned that 46.2 million Americans live below the poverty level, and that the average age of a person living in poverty in the United States was somewhere between 4 and 5 years of age.  Yes, you read it correctly, between 4 and 5 years of age.  Every time I think about that statistic, or write it down, it slays me.  I wonder how this could have happened?  I wonder how so many people could be living in poverty in what many consider to be the wealthiest nation on the planet?  I wonder how God is calling people of faith to step into the fray, to help in addressing this staggering statistic?  Or, if people of faith can even make a difference?

Awhile ago, a colleague of mine living in another state asked his people to join with him in raising awareness to the plight of the hungry in the U.S. and to participate in what he called a “Thursday fast”.  The premise is simple.  Many of us, myself included, daily give ourselves some sort of treat daily.  For me, it is usually a fancy cup of coffee or a soda from a convenience store.  In some silly way, I often feel I deserve it, and that I am entitled to it.  The bigger question is do I really need it or could I use those funds as an investment in securing life giving food to someone in need?  

I have decided that I will begin, starting tomorrow, celebrating a “Thursday fast” each week and instead of spending that $2 or so on a treat for myself, I would put the money in a can located on my office door, and every month I would send the money to www.forgottenharvest.org .  Forgotten Harvest is a food program with a branch in Oakland County, and they do a terrific job using the resources that are sent to them to help those in need.  You may be asking, what can my $2 dollars a week really do?  Can it really make a difference in the life of someone who is hungry?  Those are good questions.  The answer is that for every dollar that Forgotten Harvest receives 5 meals can be created for a family in need.  So, if you do the math, on any given month with 4 Thursdays, $8 dollars or 40 meals could be given out on behalf of my meager sacrifice.  

Part of Prince of Glory’s mission statement reads, “reaching out to others in Christian faith, hope, love and service”.  I wonder if there are any individuals in our church who would like to join me in this practice?  It does not have to be a “Thursday fast” like I am going to do, it could be any day of the week.  Its impact could be tremendous.  How great would it feel to know that your treat “sacrifice” could have such an impact on those in Oakland county who are in need of nutritious food, and that in some way you were living out the calling God gave to us through our mission statement?    If you would like to participate in this program, please your contribution in the can located on my office door.  I will be reporting monthly the results of our little experiment.

As always, I am looking for ways I can pray individually for the people of POG and our family and friends on this list.  I wonder how I could pray for you this week?  Let me know as you are able.

Peace,
PB

Peace,
PB

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I am pleased today to send you the first issue of the Spiritual Vitamin, a weekly reflection focusing on real faith in real life. Some weeks the reflection will be based on an experience I may have had, some weeks it will be based on something that I have been reading or seen on the internet or television and some weeks it will be a mixture of both. It will be designed to help you think about how the real faith God calls us to can be/is reflected in the real lives we live day to day. Partnered with that reflection will be a calling to each of you to let me, as the pastor of Prince of Glory, know how I can be praying for you? Please take the time in these first few weeks to reflect on what is being written and to let me know how, on any given week, I can be praying for you.

In his book “Fall to Grace: A Revolution of God, Self & Society”, author Jay Bakker, the son of the infamous Bakker couple, Jim and Tammy Faye, asks the reader at the onset to join with him on a journey of understanding the concept of grace. He begins by defining grace in a way that I think is quite helpful. Bakker writes, “Grace literally means unmerited favor. It is the idea that we receive salvation as a gift from God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Not as something we’ve earned. Not because of what we do (or don’t do). Not because we pass some kind of test. Just because God loved us enough to redeem us through His Son.” Understanding grace in this way can be difficult. We often are people who think we have to do something for this grace, that we need to deem ourselves worthy of it. But God throws us a curve ball by deeming us all worthy. How can this be? How can God’s grace be for all? An even tougher concept is the notion that God calls on us, in response to this understanding of grace, to shower similar grace on others, on those around us who are part of our every day lives. It can be hard for us, maybe even seem impossible, to be to be centers of grace in the way God calls us to be. But, I would ask you, what if we were? What if we spent our days showering others with the grace we have first received from God through His Son Jesus Christ? What if we were instruments of change in the lives of those around us and took the time to be filled with grace towards someone who needs it? I ask each of you, who is that person or persons in your life who could use a little grace today? How is God calling you be that instrument of grace in the life of someone else? How will you shower them with the nourishing grace that you have come to know and rely on?

As you reflect on this weeks Spiritual Vitamin, I wonder if you could take the time to let me know how I could be praying for you? I pray daily for the members of Prince of Glory and all those who are a part of this list, but it would helpful if somehow my prayers could be more directed toward specific needs, joys and thanksgivings?

Have a blessed week, and welcome to the Spiritual Vitamin.

Peace,
PB

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