Joy Lutheran Church Ocala, Florida

Two of my friends/neighbors I grew up with became enamored with kilns, due mostly to the fact that the mother of one of them had a ceramic business. When we became adults and went our separate ways, these two went into the kiln business together. In Biblical times, it was a necessary profession. The prophets, including Jesus, the greatest of them all, used the refining process as a metaphor for how God fashions and molds us; how He purifies and will purify all that is marred by sin.

We are formed, conformed, and transformed (if that works as a memory aid for you, may God be praised!). We are made in the image of Christ, yet it is a process. We are filled with His grace and truth, but it takes time, requires pain, and means change. Oh, how we fight against all three of those steps! It is only as we surrender our recalcitrance and become pliable that we draw closer to that ideal image. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes, “…God is beginning to turn us into the same kind of thing as himself.” As broken pots, we are still a treasure to The One who never ceases refining us. Give it time; be patient with Him and yourself; be willing to change. God always knows what is best, knows what is best for each and every one of us. The Potter, the Kiln-Firer, the Sculptor is never finished with us. The unconditional love is freely given, full of grace and truth.

Pastor Art

Joy Cowley is a New Zealand based writer, known especially for her children’s books.   I came upon a morning prayer in her collection called Aotearoa Psalms.  Yes, I looked it up.  The word Aotearoa is the Māori word for New Zealand, literally it means long white cloud.  In this morning prayer she uses the phrase “Kia Ora” which in Māori means “Good Morning.”

I’d like to share the beginning of Joy Cowley’s poem.  It’s a fine way to begin any day

A Morning Prayer

Kia ora my Friend God.
I give to you the voyage of this day,
that to be which is already yours,
adding to it my rejoicing,
a shout of praise. Amen. Amen.

I particularly like her beginning, “Good Morning my friend God.”  Such a simple way to begin the day, simply greeting the Almighty God as our dear friend.  The voyage of this new day may be calm or rough, it’s unknown to us.  But it’s already in God’s hands.  The day is already his.  And so we rejoice, praise God, as we begin our daily journey.

Judy

You can read this poem in its totality or more of Joy Cowley’s beautiful writing by searching online for Joy Cowley  Morning Prayer.

My sense of humor invades my thinking many times a day. As I was walking the other day, I laughed right out loud. A squirrel, busy nibbling on a found treasure of food, scurried out of my path and leaped on a tree branch. Now, why did I laugh? Bless his heart, it wasn’t a full branch, it was the thin, short twig on the end of a branch, so his little toes were gripping tightly as he hung upside down on the tiny, short twig. Don’t snicker, but that’s when the Holy Spirit stirred within me and my immediate thought was Peter. (Please don’t put me on a couch to be analyzed, LOL). Anyway, the story is of Peter seeing Jesus walking on water in the midst of a storm and he, too, wanted to come to Him on the water. Matthew 14: 28-31 Peter, suddenly bold, said, “Master, if it’s really you, call me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come ahead.” Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, “Master, save me! “Jesus didn’t hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, “Faint-heart, what got into you?”

I pictured Peter hanging on to our Lord’s hand tightly and not letting go. Our Lord loves us unconditionally; do you seek Him and hang on tightly? You should! We are so blessed to know our risen Savior, our lifeline, our branch of security for eternal life with Him.

The scurrying of my little squirrel friend and him hanging upside down on to his security tightly, created a beautiful mind photo of Peter holding our Lord’s hand tightly.  May your grasp be strong and faith filled. Know that you, like Peter, are invited to “come ahead” and hold our Lord in your heart.

Jill

I was recently gifted a book entitled Love Does by Bob Goff who is the founder of Restore International, a non-profit fighting the injustices committed against children in Uganda and India. He is a lawyer and also serves as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Uganda to the United States and is an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Law School.  I am in the midst of reading this engaging, whimsical, fun and unique book that makes faith simple and real and shares what fuels his life.  That is LOVE.

Here is a passage I found especially meaningful and enlightening. Bob starts each chapter with a little note which shows us where his ideas begin. Here is this chapter’s note.

I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I’m afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.

The thing I love about God is He intentionally guides people into failure. He made us be born as little kids who can’t walk or talk or even use the bathroom correctly. We have to be taught everything. All that learning takes time, and He made us so we are dependent on Him, our parents, and each other. The whole thing is designed so we try again and again until we finally get it right. And the whole time He is endlessly patient.

 I love those passages in Scripture where Jesus teaches the disciples something saying, “I want to teach you to think differently about life.” They walked with Him for years, and some of them didn’t learn everything they needed to know until after He’d gone back to heaven. Yet, even though they were slow to learn, they still referred to themselves as His beloveds. Failure is just part of the process, and it’s not just okay; it’s better than okay. God[PW1]  doesn’t want failure to shut us down. God didn’t make it a three-strikes-and-you’re-out sort of thing. It’s more about how God helps us dust ourselves off so that we can swing for the fences again. And all of this without keeping a meticulous record of our screw-ups.

This is what “Love Does.” It gets us through those rough patches, lifts us up to move on and try again and strengthens our hearts and minds to believe what is possible.  All of this is because of God’s unconditional love for us. Thanks be to God!

Patty

P.S. I would recommend this book for a uplifting read. There are lots of lessons to be learned from Love Does.

Tomorrow will be a very beautiful day. Tomorrow is the day that my granddaughter Mollie begins a new phase of living as married woman. We are excited; her parents are excited; her sister is excited; Nana Pat is excited; Mollie and Jonah are excited-everyone is excited! 

How wonderful to share the excitement of beginning a new life together, with all the challenges, peaks and valleys and rewards that are found along the way.  When I look back on my 56+ years of marriage, I don’t remember the frantic mornings trying to get everyone out the door on time. (I know, many of you are aware of my morning phobia. It is not a new characteristic. Even worse when married to a man who has the same issue.) 

I don’t remember the financial trauma that we faced or the personal emotional issues that racked our lives for a period of time. No, I remember graduating from college with a 10-month-old infant on my hip. I remember the little house that we bought and brought our son to live in on a cold December day. I remember the first Christmas in that house and then the 3’ snowstorm that we had the next day. I remember welcoming our second son (Mollie’s proud father) to that home and putting him to sleep in the carriage on the porch. Such a good baby! 

I remember sending them off to school and playing in the yard. It seems that I really only remember the times that support the concept of a good, productive life. The bad times are always in the background, but with the help of God, they merely form the memory bank of what I don’t need to repeat. 

I pray for a happy life for Mollie and Jonah working together as a loving team to face the difficulties and enjoy the successes.  I pray that when they have been married many years their first memories will always be the good ones. I pray that our loving Heavenly Father will continue to pour out His unconditional love on them and their family. 

My memories are such because I know that God loves me and mine and you and yours-unconditionally. Thank you for reading. I pray that you have a beautiful day today. 

Terri 

I don’t fault you if you never heard of Juri Transovsky (1592-1637). He was a Lutheran pastor and hymnwriter from Cieszyn, Silesia (now Poland, then Bohemia). His early life as a pastor was troubled by the persecution of Lutherans by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. He was jailed and suffered the loss of two of his children to the plague. He wrote and collected poems and hymns. His collections formed the basis for Slovak hymnody still in use today.

Most Lutherans, unless they are of Slovak heritage, are unfamiliar with the Slavic heritage of Lutheranism. The Slovak Zion Synod of our ELCA has 20 congregations in the United States and Canada. (I’d sort of like to belong to that Synod. They have their Synod Assemblies on a cruise ship. I have ancestors from Bohemia. Does that qualify?)

We have one hymn in our hymnal by Tranovsky, a Kyrie.

 O God, Father in heaven, have mercy upon us!

Your heart, O God, is grieved we know
By every evil, every woe;
Upon Your cross-forsaken Son
Our death is laid, and peace is won.

O Son of God, Redeemer of the world, have mercy upon us!

Your arms, extend, O Christ, to save
From sting of death and grasp of grave;
Your scars before the Father move
His heart to mercy at such love.

O God, Holy Spirit, have mercy upon us!

O lavish Giver, come to aid
The feeble child Your grace has made.
Now make us grow and help us pray:
Bring joy and comfort, come to stay!

Read Hebrews 4:16 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne

I’ve always liked the Breton’s Fisherman’s Prayer, and there have been a number of times in my life when I’ve felt the need to pray it. There are several versions and proposed sources for the prayer, but they contain the same core plea: “Dear God be good to me. The sea is so wide, and my boat is so small.”

Admiral Hyman Rickover served for many years as the head of the U. S. Navy’s nuclear submarine force. Whenever a new captain was appointed for a nuclear submarine, Rickover would give him a plaque engraved with the prayer. He also gave one to President Kennedy, who kept it on his Oval Office desk.

There are times when we feel battered by the huge waves of the sea of life. We think that we can’t survive the seemingly crushing problems we face. The Breton’s Fisherman’s Prayer seems perfect for these times. First, it is a humble plea that acknowledges that our own efforts are not enough. Second, by asking God’s help, it is a statement of faith. Praying it will give us comfort, but I would like to suggest that we extend it by the last line of the wonderful hymn “You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore” (ELW #817): “On the sand I have abandoned my small boat; now with you, I will seek other seas.”

When we face overwhelming problems, praying this little prayer can help us remember that God loves YOU and me unconditionally.

Jim

My childhood was spent near the Gulf. I have been back often. It feels like home at times. On other occasions, not so much. Like Ocala is becoming now, it is so overdeveloped that it’s hard to find the serenity of nature. Am I sentimental about Tampa Bay? I think it’s the aura of being a true Floridian. I don’t mean that in the backwoods, native sense, because that area is not that. It can still be a gentle, laid-back vibe. Who doesn’t want to take a week or two to hang out on the beach? To me it is still special, unique. It is my heritage.

No matter where I have lived or traveled, it (home) has been a navigational beacon. No matter where I’ve been, church has been my true north. Does anyone else feel lost, discombobulated, if you don’t know which direction north is? Does anyone else feel alienated and alone if you lose your true home base, which is church? Wherever grace is felt and the Good News is proclaimed in Word and Sacrament, there is an anchor for our soul. Whenever I miss a week of worship, I feel disoriented; unmoored. I know, it’s kind of my job. Knowing where I’m supposed to be every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. More than that, however, it is the Holy Spirit in us, our shared baptismal vocation.

I have worshipped on the beach. I have worshipped in the mountains. I have worshipped on a (ahem) warship. Location, geography,…it certainly doesn’t matter to our God. The unconditional love only asks for our presence. His heart’s desire is to have a relationship with us, no matter where we are. 

Pastor Art

“Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay.”  Barack Obama

Barack Obama’s words continue to ring true.  As each year passes, we have more “fallen heroes” who have died in the service of our country, serving so that we might enjoy freedom.  Today, on Memorial Day, we pause to remember them and to honor them.  The American flag flies over their graves, as a token of our respect.

With my full respect to our fallen heroes, this thought about owing a debt which we can never repay reminds me of the sacrifice made by our Lord Jesus.  He sacrificed his life for us, so that we might have freedom from sin.  We owe him a debt that we cannot even begin to repay.  We can honor him, thank him, bow down to him, but never can we repay the price he paid.

What does this mean?  No depth of guilt, no quantity of tears, no amount of repentance can make ours a payable debt.  Our forgiveness comes only through faith by grace.  It comes by God’s mercy through the blood of Jesus Christ.  It is a debt we cannot repay.  Thanks be to God for the forgiveness he so freely offers to the repentant heart.

Judy

Remember stackable alphabet blocks? I don’t remember having them as a toddler, but probably we did have them. (I remember Lincoln logs, haha).  Definitely, I had ABC blocks for my boys. We also, always read to our boys, so learning their A, B, Cs was all part of their games and story time.

Even right now YOU can be active in learning your A, B, C’s.   A = Almighty,  B = Benevolent and C = Christ.  Take some time out of your day or evening and learn those ABC’s.  The unconditional love of our Lord will start to fill you and your quest for learning about him.

Almighty = omnipotent, all-powerful, invincible, supreme, most high

Benevolent = sympathetic, kind-hearted, helpful, gracious, kind

Christ = Lamb of God, Redeemer, Jesus, Messiah, Prince of Peace

If your Bible is dog-eared from reading it so much, it’s ok to read it again. If you have never allowed yourself to delve into its pages, you will find the ABC’s of our Lord and Savior on the pages. It will be life-changing. Finding Jesus and learning the ABC’s of Him, is so very basic, so strengthening, so empowering, your heart will be filled with all that He is.

Jesus is my Shepherd is one of my favorite choral pieces. The song begins: “Jesus, is my Shepherd.  Jesus, is my Lord, Jesus is my Shepherd, I won’t be afraid anymore.” Learn the ABC’s of Jesus, your fear will vanish and He will never leave you.

Jill