Andy's Blog: A Personal Word
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May 8, 2012
May. 8, 2012With Mother’s Day coming up, I found some of those funny things that kids say about their moms:
Why did God make mothers?
She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
How did God make mothers?
Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
What kind of little girl was your Mom?
My Mom has always been my Mom and none of that other stuff. They say she used to be nice.
Why did your Mom marry your Dad?
My Dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot. My Grandma says that Mom didn’t have her thinking cap on.
Who’s the boss at your house?
Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because Dad’s such a goof ball.
What’s the difference between Moms and Dads?
Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them. Dads are taller and stronger, but Moms have all the real power ‘cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.
What does your Mom do in her spare time?
Mothers don’t do spare time.
What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
I’d make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on her back.
And a word from scripture: My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. (Proverbs 6:20)
May 1, 2012
May. 1, 2012Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray. – Proverbs 22:6
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. – Fredrick Douglass
I remember the day we brought our first child home from the hospital. I went to get the car and pull it to the discharge area of the hospital. A nurse wheeled Dawn out holding our son in her arms. She handed him to me and helped me strap him into the infant seat in the backseat. I helped Dawn into the front seat. The nurse said goodbye, and turned to go back into the hospital. I felt a moment of panic. The thought that went through my head was. “What! You aren’t coming with us? I don’t know anything about how to raise a child. I mean, at least give me the DVD.”
I suppose most parents have similar feelings at that moment. There is joy, tinged with anxiety. Every parent wants to do a good job. Every parent wants to raise strong children. We sometimes just don’t know how.
Occasionally, when our children were small, I would tell them they couldn’t do something, or tell them to do something...they would ask “Why?” I would reply “Because it is in the Daddy Book – and you have to do what’s is in the Daddy Book!” Of course, I was bluffing, there was no Daddy Book.
Our parenting was a combination of how we were parented, how we saw others parenting, what we read or heard from experts, trial and error, prayer and a lot of faith.
When Meredith was in High School we got our first dog. We told Matthew the next time he came home from school we had something to show him. He came over the next day, and we introduced him to “James Dean.” His response was, “You don’t know anything about taking care of a dog, you will kill it!” We reminded him that when he was born, we didn’t know a lot about raising kids, and he survived somehow!
This Sunday’s sermon: “Strong Children.”
April 24, 2012
Apr. 24, 2012Recently, I finished reading a book by Donald Miller on fatherlessness, Father Fiction: Chapters for a Fatherless Generation. Miller, who spoke here at Trinity a couple of years ago, is the author of the popular biography, Blue Like Jazz (which is now a movie). In his book, he recounts his feelings and struggles growing up without a father present in his life – from not knowing how to tie a tie, to feelings of always being an outsider. As a child of a single parent home for many years, Miller’s book really resonated with me.
Today only about 50% of children in America live with both parents. 40% of children are now born to unmarried mothers. The “traditional family,” is becoming less and less the norm, and more of the exception. Most of the evidence points to the fact that the deterioration of the family is a direct cause of many of our societal ills – from the rate of men incarcerated, to the rate of high school drop outs.
The truth is family is important – critical even – to our individual and social well being. This Sunday, I will continue my “Growing Strong” sermon series on marriage and family, focusing on how we build “Strong Families.”
April 17, 2012
Apr. 17, 2012Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Ephesians 6:10
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2:40
In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children
will have a refuge. Proverbs 14:26
The family is the basic building block for any society. Dr. Nick Stinnett, chairman of the Department of Human Development and the Family at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, believes that history clearly illustrates the relationship between the strength of families and the strength of nations.
“As we study some of the ancient cultures such as that of Egypt, Rome and Greece, we see a common pattern: When these cultures were coming into the peak of their power and glory as nations, the family was strong. It was important and was valued very highly. Family members cooperated with one another. They depended on each other. Then, as these nations progressed along their paths of destiny, the family came to be not so highly valued, the culture became extremely individualistic. It was a ‘do your own thing’ philosophy to an excessive degree. The families deteriorated. When that happened the societies themselves fell.”
The Bible shares this view of the importance of family. The covenant God made with Abraham, was not one-on-one, it involved family “by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.” (Genesis 12:3) Family is a part of God’s plan for human life. It is the family that initially protects and nurtures us. Much of our identity, our values, our sense of self comes from family – for good or bad!
We have no more critical and important task that building strong families. On Sunday, I will begin a series of sermons of the theme of Growing Strong: Marriages, Families, Children. Join us.
March 27, 2012
Mar. 27, 2012Throughout my ministry, I have been made aware of the power of the Lord’s Prayer to give voice to the deepest part of our human consciousness. Not only do we know these words by heart, they are in a sense written on our hearts.
I recall years ago, going to the hospital to visit a church member who was in the ICU following a procedure which had left her in a coma. During this procedure she had suffered a stroke. She could not move, open her eyes, or speak. She was not expected to live long. When I entered her room, she lay lifeless on the bed. Her husband was with me.
He told her how much he loved her. I shared with her that many people were praying for her and that God’s love for her was eternal. We did not know if she heard us. There was no response. I then began to pray, and ended my prayer by reciting the words of The Lord’s Prayer. As I said the words, a tear formed in her eye and rolled down her cheek, and her face took on a different countenance. It was obvious that these words had penetrated beneath the fog of her coma – and she connected with something deep. I think these words brought her into God’s presence in a way that nothing else could at that moment. She died within the hour.
When we pray the phrase, “Lead us not into temptation,” at least one of the ways those words can be taken is to make us ready for those times of testing, for those crisis moments in our lives.
As we enter Holy Week, the words of this petition take on urgency in Jesus’ own life. This was the week of crisis for Jesus. Before him was the cross. It is no wonder that we find him in prayer in the Garden. He prayed that “This cup” might pass from him. No one wants to die like that, but he went on to pray, “Not my will but your will be done.”
“Your will…” the words he taught us to pray. Jesus’ prayer was answered. He was not rescued, but he was made ready.
This Sunday is Palm Sunday. We enter a week of testing out of which is born redemption.
March 13, 2012
Mar. 13, 2012Two weeks ago, there was another of those tragic shootings at a high school in Ohio. A 17 year old student named T. J. Lane, walked into the school and randomly shot and killed three students in the library.
A few days after this senseless tragedy, the parents of one of the victims, Demetrius Hewlin, said they forgave the suspected gunman. When asked what she would say to the suspected shooter, Ferguson’s mother said, “I would tell him I forgive him because, a lot of times, they don’t know what they’re doing. That’s all I’d say.” That was not an easy thing to say or do. In fact, had it been my child who was killed, I am not at all sure I would have the grace to forgive so quickly. When wronged, the pain, anger and rage can overwhelm us. Forgiveness is hard work, it is not easy. And yet it is the way of Jesus.
In that model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, he instructed us to pray, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those trespass against us.” In some ways this is the hardest part of this prayer to pray. It tells us we must be willing to change. And change comes hard for us.
But, if forgiveness is hard, what is even harder on us is to become a prisoner of our anger, our hurt and our pain. Corrie Ten Boom, whose family perished in the Nazi death camps, wrote that “forgiveness is to set the prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.”
This Sunday, we will continue the Lenten sermon series on The Lord’s Prayer, by looking at the hard work of forgiveness.
March 6, 2012
Mar. 6, 2012Thus far in our series on the Lord’s Prayer, we have focused on the fact that for Jesus, prayer begins with God – with who God is, with God’s will and purposes. “When you pray say Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Prayer begins not with us, our wants and wishes – but with God and what God wants for us and our world. In Christian prayer, we must allow God to be God. We do so in the confidence that what God wants is for the healing and redemption of all. We approach this holy God with respect and with love.
Mike Yacconelli, one of the founders of Youth Specialties, tells of playing hide and seek with his two little boys. To the game of searching for Daddy, Mike added the dimension of “total fear.” When they got close to him he’d jump out and scare the socks off ‘em.
So the game is on and they’re searching...He’s in the pantry, you look. No you look. We’ll both look. He’s not in the pantry. Makes a noise...boys go into the dark bedroom. They ignore the light and at just the right moment, Mike jumps out...Arrrgh!!
The two boys jumped into the air screaming and tripping to get away. Then the older one grabs the little brother and says: He isn’t a monster. It’s our Dad. Let’s get him!
Two small boys terrified of Dad, except they weren’t. They knew this monster was due respect for good reason. But they also knew the love of this monster. To call God our Father means we believe he is worthy of deepest respect and solid confidence in His love for us.
This Sunday, we turn to the phrase, “Give us this day our daily bread...”
February 14, 2012
Feb. 14, 2012Thanks to all who said “Amen” on Sunday, to our building debt. As of this morning we have received 182 gifts and commitments of $416,326 – this represents 47% of our outstanding debt of $895,000. We are well on our way. All of us have benefited from the new and renewed facilities over these past years. If you were not here on Sunday, let me encourage you to join those in finishing what we began. You may make a one-time gift or a commitment of one year by contacting Ann Neptune at 879-1737, or by emailing .
Up and coming:
• Next week we begin the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is on February 22 – with “Come and Go” Communion and Imposition of ashes offered from 7-8 AM in the sanctuary, and a full service at 6:30 PM. Our theme for this Lent is “The Lord’s Prayer.” The Lord’s Prayer has been called the model prayer. It teaches us how to pray. Bishop Willimon writes that one of the ways we become Christian is learning to pray this prayer and allowing it to shape us. I invite you to a season of prayer and reflection together using the Lord’s Prayer as a model. A bookmark with a daily scripture reading centered around prayer and a guide to prayer will be available for the Lenten season.
• Our Strategic Planning Committee is hard at work. Over the next couple of weeks, there will be a number of focus groups which will facilitate their work.
• Our Discovery Weekend for Middle High students will be the weekend of February 24-26. This is an important time of spiritual growth for our students. Please join in prayer for the students and this weekend.
February 7, 2012
Feb. 7, 2012In the 1989 Film, “Field of Dreams,” an Iowa corn farmer hears voices that tell him “build it and they will come.” He interprets this as a command to build a baseball diamond in his fields; he does, and the Chicago Black Sox come. People show up from all over to watch. It is a film about the power of vision – of daring to reach beyond what is.
Through the decades, this church has remained a vital congregation because it has been willing to dream and reach beyond. Six years ago, we had a vision of ministry beyond what we were then doing –
particularly with children and youth. Our facilities, which once had been ‘state of the art’ and served us well, were tired and worn. We lacked space. It became obvious that we were at another one of those critical junctures where we needed to dream – to discern the vision that God had for us.
The result of that dream was a new facility for preschool and student ministry, a new music suite, an expanded and refurbished fellowship hall, new bathrooms, and the refurbishment of much of our other space. We built in faith, and they came. Since this expansion our ministry has seen a 68% percent growth in the number of children, and our student ministry has more than tripled.
The total cost of this project was $10 million (including interest). It was more than we dreamed we could do. But God had bigger dreams for us. You responded in faithfulness. In six years we have retired all but $900,000 of this debt. Thank you!!!
Now we want to “Say Amen” to the remaining debt. This Sunday we will all have the opportunity to join in finishing what we began, by making a one-time sacrificial gift or a one year commitment. Some 1,200 of you are new and have enjoyed the benefits of this expansion. Others of us have had the privilege of helping a dream come true. All of us can join in saying AMEN to a remarkable success.
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. - Ephesians 3:21-22
January 10, 2012
Jan. 10, 2012Bishop Reuben Job begins his book Three Simple Questions by writing, “Our identity is found and formed by the God we worship and serve. Our life together as Christians is discovered, held together, and lived out based on our understanding of the God we have come to know and see to follow.”
J.B. Phillips, in another era, wrote a book with the title Your God is Too Small. Like Bishop Job, he was concerned that we are formed and shaped by the God we worship and if our conception of God is too small or too limited, then it limits us and distorts the true nature of our faith. Much of the divisions and hatred we see propagated in the world in the name of God, is the result of an inadequate understanding of who God is and, as a result, who we are.
Over the next three weeks, following Bishop Job’s title, I would like us to focus on three simple questions that are at the center of who we are meant to be:
• Who Is God?
• Who Are We?
• Who Are We Together?
The answers to these three simple questions have profound consequences on how we live our lives and shape the world.