Saint James Blog

For those of you who know me, you know that detail-oriented I am not. Keeping track of the details and making sure they get taken care of is usually (if I’m smart and able) someone else’s work. Yet I find when something really needs doing to press forward with ministry, I am going to do it whether or not it involves details. When it is clear that Jesus needs something to move forward and I happen to be the only able-bodied (notice I left out “minded”) person available, I am going to press forward. That is where passion comes in for me. I don’t like or manage details all that well but I refuse to let the mission Jesus has laid out for me and for Saint James be derailed because it is not in my gift-set to do it. “With my last breath and my last penny” I want to be about what Jesus wants me to be about. I can feel it burning in my soul and it won’t let go.

So when details get me down and when they seem like mere distractions, I try to remember for what purpose I am in this life and faith and to weigh if the details can wait for the “detail-gifted” and if they cannot, I can do nothing but the thing that needs doing.

I learned another thing about preaching this week.  Not only does the one giving the sermon seem to be deeply affected by the topic, but so do those that hear it.  This can be both an incredible and grace giving experience, or a completely overwhelming spiritual disaster.   Perhaps the latter was dramatic, but you get the point.  In any case, I got a call this morning from one member of our community and I could hear panic in her voice.  For her, her health is her rocky boat.  I have heard from others about how their husbands, families, school, jobs or busy schedules have been their rocky boats lately.  I shared on Sunday how my rocky boat has been my sadness and helplessness over what my friend from another church is having to go through, and how it affects several youth I love.

I think it is incredible how a sermon can take on such a life.  I think it is wonderful to see how God is speaking through it and at a time when it is needed.  I can remember as a kid feeling like my pastor was speaking directly to me many weeks.  In fact, it was the words of a Pastor on a week of rebellion that led to my signing up for a youth trip that changed my life and led me to accept Christ.  It wasn’t until many years later that I let that Pastor know about the impact of his message and he had no idea.  He wasn’t even speaking about the youth trip or anything else that would have necessarily caused my heart to be moved in that way, but God used his words to change my heart and move me.

The thing is, maybe this isn’t just the case with sermons, but with what each of us say and focus on.  If we give our attention to a verse or chapter of the Bible, shouldn’t it have the same affect?  Yes, it does.  When I am diligent in my personal Bible study and prayer time, I find that it comes alive in my life.  I wish knowing that would keep me from failing to give adequate time to these areas of my life.  This week was a reminder for me about just how important daily and constant devotions are.  If we stay focused on what it is about and what God is trying to share through reading His word and talking to Him and others who are Christ-centered, I think we all might be in okay shape:)

Does that mean that we shouldn’t talk to those who are not Christ-centered (Christians and non-Christians both can fall into this category)?  I hope not, I hope your faith will embrace such people.  This goes back to Jesus and the disciples, even though they stumbled and had hearts of disbelief, he loved and walked with them.

What would a life of constant devotion look like?  Does this mean we should cut out the source that rocks our boat?  My prayer is that you will let God lead you to an  answer these and other questions that I know I wrestle with and I suspect others do too.

My prayers go out to you on your rocky boat, my prayers are that you can see Him walking on the water to you and that you will let Him join you in your boat.  My prayers is that we can all trust and have faith.

Recently, many have approached me about Saint James’ intent to add another site in the Kingstowne area. People ask where I’ll be bringing the message, whether I am leaving one site to go to the other and questions of that sort. Let me start by saying I am going to be in both places; obviously the times of worship will not be simultaneous and there will be some commuting involved. Erika will also be involved in both sites. How this will all work is still in the planning phase. All I can say for sure right now is that I am certain this is what .God is calling us to do and as such, I know I have no choice in the matter.

As questions arise, I’ll try to address them here in the blog as well as give you regular updates on our progress- so will Erika and perhaps other guest bloggers as time moves forward.

I lay awake in bed last night as my mind rambled over everything happening these days at Saint James and my place in those happenings. As pastor part of my work is really in helping to envision what it is God may be calling us toward and speaking that reality among us. Sometimes after the leadership tests what I have to say, we discover that it may not be the direction we are called to pursue. Other times it is clear to others we need to move that way as well. Last night I lay awake thinking about the new Saint James-Kingstowne site to be launched later this autumn (October) and the renovation that is moving forward at Saint James-Alexandria. How will these various plans God has shown us come to be? It is in moments like those, laying awake with no one to test my thoughts on but God in prayer that I struggle. I second-guess and over-analyze and re-hash decisions already made. I start to get that feeling in my stomach- did I really hear what God was saying? Do I have the strength and leadership skills to carry us forward? What about the unknown? What about the faith we talk about, often that I TALK ABOUT, every week?

It feels like the storms Erika talked about this past weekend in Mark, the disciples tossed on the winds. What would it take in moments like that to envision Jesus walking to me on the waters, in the midst of the storm when I am feeling overwhelmed? The easy answer is faith. If you’re reading this, you knew the answer before I even wrote it down but knowing the answer and living the answer are two different things. Can I simply “decide” to have faith and it will all work out? The answer is not as simple then, at least not for me. Faith has been a journey that brought me to this place, a journey that will carry me forward. It is that journey and stories of God’s work in my life that I remember in times like last night, at least I try to remember them then. After that, I work to manage one task at a time (that is my speed as a non-multi-tasker) and take care of the most pressing ones, the ones within my power to control (sometimes that feels like none but is really more than that). And I rely on the knowledge that God blessed me with teams of folks who handle the challenges with me so I am not alone.

I am going to keep working on trust…

This week James explained what goes into a sermon, and the steps I take are fairly similar, except that I usually have more time to prepare since my sermons are more spaced out.  I start once I know I am covering a week and pray as I look through the section of the Bible we are in, which happens to be early-mid Mark right now.  So far I have felt called to continue on the path of diving into Mark and then I choose which passages I am going to cover.  After that I read it at least once or twice a day and discern what I am meant to focus on.  A verse or theme typically jumps out at me pretty quickly.   One of my constant prayers regardless of who is preaching is that it would be 1. God’s word, not mans, 2. shared in a way that will meet the needs of at least one, 3. shared in a way that at least attempts to clarify God’s will and character to all.  That said, preparing a sermon also involves steps like  dissecting the passage, asking questions I have and questions I think others might have, pondering those questions, looking at commentary on the verses, and ultimately sitting in front of my mac to write out the sermon.  Once it is written, (which I am in a smaller class at Saint James who feels the need to write it out, which is not saying that not doing so is bad, it’s whatever we are called to) I read it out loud and tear it apart, piece it back together, and do this up until Sunday morning.  By that point I have heard my voice more than I ever care to and I have prayed almost as much as I would have liked to (though never as much as I ought to) and I feel like the sermon is all His words.  When I get up there something happens and it is like an out of body experience.  I don’t even feel that nervous that what I have written is not in front of me.  Most of what I prepare stays the same, but some of it changes.  Believe me, the congregation plays a huge role to.  You can feel the energy of prayer, ah-ha moments, healing, questioning, etc.  It’s an amazing experience.  This is not an exact science and  everyone experiences the way they craft their sermons differently, but this is what I have found and what I am in the process of as I prepare for this week’s sermon.

Blogging is by no means new though it is fairly new to us at SJ. We are fortunate to be using blogging software from WordPress that allows us plugins that will make sharing the messages from Sundays and other thoughts more simple. In the coming days you can expect to see more Saint Jamesians sharing their thoughts as well as the messages back to the beginning of the “how-to” series. You can listen to the messages online by simply clicking on the “play” button, you can manually download them, or youl can subscribe to them using iTunes where they’ll be automatically downloaded for you when new ones are uploaded. I expect to upload instructions on subscribing to the messages later this week.

I know this wasn’t really a true blog but simply some thoughts about our blogging software and site. More later…