Pastor John’s Corner
As I write this, I’m keenly aware there are thousands of people in this country that are suffering from the loss of loved ones, homes, and all of their worldly possessions dues to the horrific deluge of tornadoes and floods that have occurred during the month of May. Right here in our own neighborhood of the Evansville-Tri-State there was loss of life and property; but not on the scale of places such as Joplin, MO. I give God praise and thanks that none of our parish folks were lost during the tornado that went through Haubstadt and the surrounding area.
A fundamentalist preacher predicted the end of the world on the 21st of May. For those affected by the tornado that hit Joplin on the 21st, I’m sure it must have felt as if the prediction had come true. Let me assure you though that one had nothing to do with the other. First of all, Jesus told us that no man will know the time or the hour that the Son of God shall come again. Doomsday predictors are doing the devils handiwork for him. They are trying to out-guess God. ---- Secondly, I’m absolutely certain that God did not “cause a tornado or flood” to punish any of the people in the places that have been hit so hard by the catastrophes. To believe that, is to believe that God purposely wants you to suffer. God is a God of love. He has a created a universe and put into motion a universe that is so delicate and perfectly balanced that we have no way to truly appreciate or understand it. But – God also gave us dominion over this earth that He created. When we ruin the atmosphere with toxic gases and pollutants, we interfere with the perfection that God put into place. We punch holes in our atmosphere and we speed up a naturally occurring global warming process. This causes changes in our weather patterns’, thus changing the severity of what happens globally to our world. So, let’s look not to God as a cause for our problems, let’s take a closer look at our stewardship of the world God created for us.
Blessings to you,
Pastor John
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Have a Potato Chip- Author Unknown
Have a Potato Chip
A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her some chips. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" Hereplied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?" She replied! "I ate potato chips in the park with God." However, before her son responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."
A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her some chips. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" Hereplied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?" She replied! "I ate potato chips in the park with God." However, before her son responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."
September Newsletter
Thank you, thank you, and thank you – for supporting our summer of combined worship services. I felt it was a wonderful worship experience and it also gave our organists a bit of a breather for a couple of weeks at a time. Now that summer vacation and recreation time is over, we can get back to our regular schedules of worship, Sunday school, and Scriptures and Donuts.
As the new school year ramps up, so does the beginning of the 2011 Confirmation class. The class will begin on September 26th and run through Palm Sunday of 2011. There are expected to be five youth in this year’s class, all from St. Lucas.
In case you haven’t heard, Reverend Steve Gray, our INKY Conference Minister, resigned and retired as of August 31st after many faithful years in God’s service. We wish him God’s speed as he settles down to “retired life”. In the interim, The Reverend John M. Gantt has been called to serve as the Interim Conference Minister until the Call Process secures a permanent Conference Minister. We wish Reverend Gantt much luck.
September brings the call for Operation Christmas Child and once again Ruth Wilson has volunteered to take lead for the parish. Please start filling your shoe boxes with the necessary items. The
St. Lucas council has agreed to pay the $7.00 per box shipping cost. This should help you in your planning for items to place in the boxes or perhaps even enable you to fill a second box.
I will be taking a vacation from September 13th – 21st. Mrs. Jane Herbert will fill the pulpit on the 19th of September and be on call for clergy emergencies. Jane and her late husband Chuck served at the Chrisney and Lamar UCC churches for many years. She is now a member of St. Peter’s UCC in Evansville.
Blessings,
Pastor John
As the new school year ramps up, so does the beginning of the 2011 Confirmation class. The class will begin on September 26th and run through Palm Sunday of 2011. There are expected to be five youth in this year’s class, all from St. Lucas.
In case you haven’t heard, Reverend Steve Gray, our INKY Conference Minister, resigned and retired as of August 31st after many faithful years in God’s service. We wish him God’s speed as he settles down to “retired life”. In the interim, The Reverend John M. Gantt has been called to serve as the Interim Conference Minister until the Call Process secures a permanent Conference Minister. We wish Reverend Gantt much luck.
September brings the call for Operation Christmas Child and once again Ruth Wilson has volunteered to take lead for the parish. Please start filling your shoe boxes with the necessary items. The
St. Lucas council has agreed to pay the $7.00 per box shipping cost. This should help you in your planning for items to place in the boxes or perhaps even enable you to fill a second box.
I will be taking a vacation from September 13th – 21st. Mrs. Jane Herbert will fill the pulpit on the 19th of September and be on call for clergy emergencies. Jane and her late husband Chuck served at the Chrisney and Lamar UCC churches for many years. She is now a member of St. Peter’s UCC in Evansville.
Blessings,
Pastor John
Monday, April 26, 2010
Newsletter for May/June
When I see the trees pop out in bloom and the spring flowers come into their state of beauty, I cannot help but wonder just how beautiful the earth must have been before God created man. When I reflect on that, I believe it is truly a blessing that God shares this beauty with us. If this beauty has been “toned down” so to speak, so we humans can comprehend it; one can only imagine the magnificence of heaven. What we must always remember is that God gave us dominion over the earth and that requires us to be good stewards of His creation. We just celebrated “Earth Day”. However, as Children of God, we should remind ourselves daily of our responsibility, and remember that loving God --- includes loving the earth he gave us. Every day should be an Earth Day.
We are approaching the end of the “Easter Season” and making our way to Pentecost and the “Pentecost Season.” This is the longest period of our church year and it is also the season that “church life” begins to conflict with “daily life.” This was the main reason I proposed the upcoming summer worship schedule to our councils. You and I know that our attendance will drop at each of the parish churches due to vacations, seasonal farming, sports, county fairs and sometimes, just the desire to sleep late on a Sunday morning. So, I hope you will post the schedule of the services on your refrigerator and continue to worship with us throughout the summer.
There is much talk these days of the new “emerging church.” Like it or not, the church as we knew it in the last century is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Don’t believe it ------ how full was your sanctuary last week? Maybe we need to rethink how we do church services, how can we make church more vibrant, and how can we insure we are getting the message of Christ out in a manner that is still effective. I’m always open to hear your thoughts on what you think we need to do to ensure we are serving God in a manner that is pleasing to him.
Blessings,
Pastor John
We are approaching the end of the “Easter Season” and making our way to Pentecost and the “Pentecost Season.” This is the longest period of our church year and it is also the season that “church life” begins to conflict with “daily life.” This was the main reason I proposed the upcoming summer worship schedule to our councils. You and I know that our attendance will drop at each of the parish churches due to vacations, seasonal farming, sports, county fairs and sometimes, just the desire to sleep late on a Sunday morning. So, I hope you will post the schedule of the services on your refrigerator and continue to worship with us throughout the summer.
There is much talk these days of the new “emerging church.” Like it or not, the church as we knew it in the last century is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Don’t believe it ------ how full was your sanctuary last week? Maybe we need to rethink how we do church services, how can we make church more vibrant, and how can we insure we are getting the message of Christ out in a manner that is still effective. I’m always open to hear your thoughts on what you think we need to do to ensure we are serving God in a manner that is pleasing to him.
Blessings,
Pastor John
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Newsletter for April
Pastor John’s Corner
Lent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter; these are the specific days that mark the most holy days of our Christian faith and Church year. You might think that I’ve left out a day that is just as important, that would be Christmas. But in my mind I’ll take Easter over Christmas in importance.
While Christmas is certainly more celebrated and more commercialized; it “only” represents the birth of Jesus; the day he came into the world. I’m not saying for a moment that we should not acknowledge the occasion, but in my mind, Christmas simply doesn’t hold a candle theologically to Easter.
The Easter season brings us to the full realization of the teachings, the suffering, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. It is the events of that Easter morning that gave us eternal life as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, threw open the confines of death itself and walked out of a tomb that had held him for three days. Jesus made the necessity of a relationship with him clear in Luke 24:46-47; “And he said, ‘Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: “There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.”
It is the resurrection above all else that seals the covenant between God and man. Without the resurrection, Jesus would most likely have simply been classified as a brilliant teacher, rabbi, prophet or simply a wonderful man who loved the people. But Jesus died and fulfilled the promise that he would rise again and because he did, we too will have eternal life. God is good.
Blessings,
Pastor John
Lent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter; these are the specific days that mark the most holy days of our Christian faith and Church year. You might think that I’ve left out a day that is just as important, that would be Christmas. But in my mind I’ll take Easter over Christmas in importance.
While Christmas is certainly more celebrated and more commercialized; it “only” represents the birth of Jesus; the day he came into the world. I’m not saying for a moment that we should not acknowledge the occasion, but in my mind, Christmas simply doesn’t hold a candle theologically to Easter.
The Easter season brings us to the full realization of the teachings, the suffering, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. It is the events of that Easter morning that gave us eternal life as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, threw open the confines of death itself and walked out of a tomb that had held him for three days. Jesus made the necessity of a relationship with him clear in Luke 24:46-47; “And he said, ‘Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah must suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: “There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.”
It is the resurrection above all else that seals the covenant between God and man. Without the resurrection, Jesus would most likely have simply been classified as a brilliant teacher, rabbi, prophet or simply a wonderful man who loved the people. But Jesus died and fulfilled the promise that he would rise again and because he did, we too will have eternal life. God is good.
Blessings,
Pastor John
Friday, February 26, 2010
Newsletter for March
Pastor John’s Corner
On Ash Wednesday, we met as a parish to celebrate the beginning of the Lenten season. The confirmands worked very hard to put together their service and I thought they did an excellent job of presenting the service for us. They deserve our congratulation for a job well done.
At that service one of our confirmands gave us a brief history of why we put ashes on our forehead, why we celebrate Lent and Ash Wednesday. Her research was a good and well presented series of facts. However, I hope that all of you will take time during these next few weeks to step beyond the facts of why we celebrate Lent. Lent really is a period of solemn prayer and reflection on the current state of our personal relationship with God. Many people will “give up something” as an act of contrition during this period. The something that we give up is supposed to represent a sacrifice on our part in recognition of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Therefore if your sacrifice is indeed a trivial thing, then you trivialize the sacrifice that Christ made. In other words, giving up chocolate hardly equates to Christ giving up his life.
I heard of a church sign the other day that said “Now Open Christmas through Easter!” I thought that was a pretty neat sign because it hits home to many church goers. Our attendance at the two churches says fairly consistent and we can do so very much better. For those of you who come every Sunday, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. But --- it is up to you to make those calls to relatives and friends who miss frequently and invite them to join us again. We would love to have them worship with us again.
Blessings,
Pastor John
On Ash Wednesday, we met as a parish to celebrate the beginning of the Lenten season. The confirmands worked very hard to put together their service and I thought they did an excellent job of presenting the service for us. They deserve our congratulation for a job well done.
At that service one of our confirmands gave us a brief history of why we put ashes on our forehead, why we celebrate Lent and Ash Wednesday. Her research was a good and well presented series of facts. However, I hope that all of you will take time during these next few weeks to step beyond the facts of why we celebrate Lent. Lent really is a period of solemn prayer and reflection on the current state of our personal relationship with God. Many people will “give up something” as an act of contrition during this period. The something that we give up is supposed to represent a sacrifice on our part in recognition of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Therefore if your sacrifice is indeed a trivial thing, then you trivialize the sacrifice that Christ made. In other words, giving up chocolate hardly equates to Christ giving up his life.
I heard of a church sign the other day that said “Now Open Christmas through Easter!” I thought that was a pretty neat sign because it hits home to many church goers. Our attendance at the two churches says fairly consistent and we can do so very much better. For those of you who come every Sunday, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. But --- it is up to you to make those calls to relatives and friends who miss frequently and invite them to join us again. We would love to have them worship with us again.
Blessings,
Pastor John
Monday, February 15, 2010
Pastor John's Corner February 2010
Pastor John’s Corner
I hope by now, you have taken the chance to lift your spirits and take a whole new look at the year 2010. We have been concentrating on just that for the past five Sundays. If our two congregational meetings are an example, I’d say we have made a great beginning.
Congratulations to our newly elected council members and continued good luck to the returning members. You all have a lot of work ahead of you for the coming year. But as I said in my letter to the members of the St. Lucas, when we all work together to accomplish what we feel to be the work of God, we will continue to be successful.
On February 17th, we will celebrate Ash Wednesday with our annual confirmand-designed and run Combined Parish service. As is traditional, we will have communion and the imposition of ashes as part of the service. The service will be held at 7:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s. I hope you will come and celebrate the beginning of the Lenten season. Lent is a period of prayer and reflection for the faithful. We use the six weeks to reflect on our relationship with God and with our fellowman, and make improvements where needed. As part of our Lenten program this year, our Bible Study/Book Discussion for Lent will be called Fearless, based upon the Max Lucado book by the same name. Julie Wallis and I will be offering this Bible Study together. I hope you will take the opportunity to come and talk about how we can use the power of the Holy Spirit to get past those things that worry us and take our mind off of the blessings that God has given us.
Blessings,
Pastor John
I hope by now, you have taken the chance to lift your spirits and take a whole new look at the year 2010. We have been concentrating on just that for the past five Sundays. If our two congregational meetings are an example, I’d say we have made a great beginning.
Congratulations to our newly elected council members and continued good luck to the returning members. You all have a lot of work ahead of you for the coming year. But as I said in my letter to the members of the St. Lucas, when we all work together to accomplish what we feel to be the work of God, we will continue to be successful.
On February 17th, we will celebrate Ash Wednesday with our annual confirmand-designed and run Combined Parish service. As is traditional, we will have communion and the imposition of ashes as part of the service. The service will be held at 7:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s. I hope you will come and celebrate the beginning of the Lenten season. Lent is a period of prayer and reflection for the faithful. We use the six weeks to reflect on our relationship with God and with our fellowman, and make improvements where needed. As part of our Lenten program this year, our Bible Study/Book Discussion for Lent will be called Fearless, based upon the Max Lucado book by the same name. Julie Wallis and I will be offering this Bible Study together. I hope you will take the opportunity to come and talk about how we can use the power of the Holy Spirit to get past those things that worry us and take our mind off of the blessings that God has given us.
Blessings,
Pastor John
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