SUNDAY SERVICES:

When Paul runs into some disciples in the city of Ephesus, he kicks off the conversation with, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?” (Acts 19.2 MSG)

And then, a chapter later, he says, “We met on Sunday to worship and celebrate the Master’s Supper” (Acts 20.7).

With the Holy Spirit in us, Sunday morning church can be, well, something more.

Is confirmation for you? Read on to learn about confirmation: what it is, what it's for, and whether you should be confirmed.

What is Confirmation?  

Confirmation is a service for those of us who were baptized as infants to make our own, mature and public, decision to follow Jesus with the blessing of the laying on of hands by a bishop.  

The laying on of hands is for the imparting of the Spirit to serve; to minister as Jesus did.

I got confirmed at the age of nine.  My reason was clear and simple, I wanted to be an acolyte, wear a red cassock and white surplice, and serve at the altar on Sundays.  

But that’s not a good reason to get confirmed.  

A good reason to have a bishop lay hands on you and pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen, empower, and sustain you is for an equipping to do ministry.  

It’s the way God has always done it.

Pentecost - What’s it all about?  

I remember my first step.

Pentecost: My First Step

Okay, here’s the scene:

I was the lone clergyman in a rather large New England church. I had spent two years at the post. 

I was fixing coffee and hard-boiled eggs for our monthly clergy meeting, which was for priests from local churches.

You need to know that the eggs symbolized these meetings, which were usually filled with hard-boiled and stale arguments about high and low churchmanship.

I heard the speaker mention the Holy Spirit.

Seriously, I thought, I spent three years studying in seminary and two years as a curate in this New England church. Why had I not heard of this Holy Spirit before now?  

Shall We Shell?

My wife Barb is an avid sheller and gifted shell finder. I'm her assistant. Of course, Sanibel is notorious for its shells, but then, we are not in the shell hot zone of Sanibel. 

We stay at a place called ''Tween Waters. It's between Sanibel and Captiva Islands. 

That's' not to say the shelling there isn't good. It is...just not as good.

 Not to grumble, but we have oodles of glass containers, even a rather large one shaped like a fish, all around our home filled with seashells. We even have framed shells on our walls, along with prints of shells framed on the walls.

We are beach people.  

Today, the last day of our five-day vacation together, we walked and talked about how shells remind us of just how great our Creator is.

I love these words from Raymond Brown, a prominent New Testament scholar.  “How did the following of Jesus which involved love for him survive after he died? 

The answer, I suggest, is that it survived only because love for Jesus was looked on as an ongoing element, even among those who never knew him during his ministry.”  (From The Churches the Apostles Left Behind, by Raymond E. Brown p. 97)

Sometimes the love for Jesus is extravagant.  Here are a couple of images of extravagant love from John’s gospel.  

One is Mary, the sister to Lazarus and Martha, anointing Jesus at dinner. And the other is Peter being asked over and over again if he really loves Jesus. I think something beautiful was going on inside the heart of both Mary and Peter.

In 1962 Decca Recording Company rejected the Beatles.  They said, ‘We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

In 1977 Ken Olson, Chairman of Digital Equipment Co., said, ‘There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

Sometimes we miss what lies ahead. 

Most of you have probably heard of 4H clubs.

Carl and I went to a horseshow this past weekend to watch our granddaughter.  It was put on by 4H, and the environment and ambiance of the day made me stop and think.

We witnessed genuine attitudes of kindness and caring, lots of encouragement, and a camaraderie that isn’t always evident in competition.

Our daughter shared that there is a true community spirit and a welcoming attitude.  Everyone in the club wants the best for each other – they have each other’s backs.

Kind of makes you think…hmmm…isn’t this what Christian community should look like when others view it from the outside or walk into a church? 

Indeed, all those traits and with Christ in the center – WOW!  So, what if the Church was the 5H club?

At the end of my days, I would like my epitaph to read something like, 

“Here lies Carl, he loved well.”

Perhaps even before the end of my days. It is said that Annie Dillard said, “The way we live our lives is the way we live our days.“ 

So I have decided that I would even like to hear at the end of Lent’s days, “Carl Loved Well this Lent.”  

 Yes, at the end of Lent and Life, I’d like to have loved well.

How do you love others well?

I like to add to Annie’s saying, that the way we live our days is the way we live our moments.  So nowadays, I try and keep an eye out for “holy moments.”  

I saw one while visiting family in North Carolina a few months ago. 

“Will you help me find my mommy?”  It was a small shaky voice, from a 5ish-year-old named Tommy, that I heard that gorgeous spring morning. 

I had settled into what had seemed to be a deserted pool area at the hotel, found a lounge chair and table, and posited a pile of books.  It was Lent and I was on a quest, wanting to see again and anew the enormity of God’s love manifest on the Friday we call Good. 

It’s Lent - a season where our thoughts and attention turn to repentance, confession, sin, and the cross as we journey to Good Friday and then on to Easter.

A few weeks ago, our small group spoke briefly of sin and children, which sparked some reflection in me and I hope these stories might provoke some thoughts in you as well.

Are we born sinners? Ahhh…some ask, how can an innocent baby be born a sinner? Here are a few stories from my past, that will let you know I have been a sinner all my life, even before I knew cognitively what sin was! I may not have known it at the time, but oh my goodness….