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Pentecost from the Pew

For ten years I was a Lutheran preacher. That was my vocation. And that’s what I did, preached, a lot. And Pentecost was always an interesting Sunday. As much as I hate to admit it, it’s hard to read an account like that without questioning one’s ministry. I mean, just once, couldn’t I have a Pentecost Sunday? Or couldn’t we compromise? Maybe not thousands, and, fine, not hundreds, or even dozens, but maybe a handful would come to faith and be baptized? It’s hard to imagine what it must have felt like Peter, preaching a sermon and having such immediate results. Continue reading “Pentecost from the Pew”

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Lessons on the Diamond

I know a lot of people don’t get club sports. I know a lot of pastors don’t like them. I’ll admit, we become a Thursday, Saturday, Monday church family once the season kicks into gear. I’ll also note, though, that we’ve made it work, even when I was the pastor and my wife was the pastor’s wife and my kids were PKs.

What’s the problem with club sports? There are many. First, anyone can play, if they can find a club willing to take their money. And a lot of times that anyone doesn’t really want to play, or maybe shouldn’t play, but their parents are determined to spend money. Second, anyone can play, if they have money to give a club, and some of the best players I know, and best families, struggle to find the money. Third, this is a commitment to a sport year-round, at a high level (if you are getting your money’s worth). There is no off-season, as some T-shirts boast. There are other problems, but these suffice for now. Continue reading “Lessons on the Diamond”

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Christ’s Ascension Is Our Ascension

If you haven’t yet, check out our episode on the Ascension with Pastor Tyler Peil, which can be found here: LetTheBirdFly.com/9

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
2 Kings 2:1-11

Bible trivia time. The Bible only reports two men ever having gone to heaven without dying. We have one before us in this reading. Do you remember who the other was? Want a hint? We hear about him in Genesis 5: “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”

And that’s all we hear about Enoch. Pretty interesting isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be nice to know more? Wouldn’t it be nice to more about Enoch’s life, what he was like, where he lived, what he did, who he knew, what he had? But Moses doesn’t tell us. Apparently he didn’t think it important and apparently God didn’t think we really needed to know. And maybe there’s something to that. Enoch walked with God. That’s all that mattered in the end. Whatever he did or had, whoever he knew, wherever he lived, in the end, when it boiled down to it, what mattered was that he walked with God. And what does that mean? It means he believed. Enoch was a believer. And so Moses tells us Enoch was born, he raised a family, and he walked with God, and God took him without ever dying. Continue reading “Christ’s Ascension Is Our Ascension”