Ministry is All About Connections

There is a temptation today to simply blast out electronic ideas to anyone who might read it. The most significant thing that disciples have, however, is not technology, rather is authentic community. Sometimes authentic community comes thru social media, but is the most complete when we gather face to face. Disciples need to be together!

Sunny G, a communications manager,
says: “I think the world is plagued with enough negative people. We need more positive people, people who like to zero in on what is right with the world. Negative people just make me feel heavy.” --Now Discover Your Strengths, p. 109
I can relate to what Sunny has to say. Negativity is so…well…negative! I have to wonder about attitude. Why do some people face adversity with such courage, while others mope like Eeyore about this tiniest of inconveniences?
Is attitude hard-wired? Are some people just born negative? Perhaps, but I am convinced that we have quite a bit of control of how we choose to see the world. A SOTH member said to me recently that at a point in his life he “decided to be happy.” His decision was to view his life from the most healthy, positive perspective he could—not to sugarcoat or fool himself or anyone else, for that matter—but to see his glass half full.
An office manager in a previous congregation was not the jolliest of people.
However, she found a way to poke a bit of fun at herself. She found a poster of a bald eagle, looking stern and serious. The caption read: “I am smiling.” She put in on the wall in the church office and for those of us who knew her it captured her attempt to be a positive person, even though she could never be, as she described it “a grinning idiot.”
Neither of these people said so to me, but I believe they could see that part of
becoming more positive about life comes from acknowledging that you and I ultimately are not the ones in charge, but that God is. I suppose that we are hard-wired in some ways, but I also believe that as God’s children when we learn to trust that God is present in our lives and when we expect God to see us through the difficulties we face that we can move through them with a grateful, positive viewpoint. This attitude of Discipleship is far from some kind of pie-in-the-sky naiveté—it is grounded in our hope in Christ.
As you begin this new year, Disciples, may you be grounded in that hope, and may you trust that God will make your paths straight in 2012.
Proverbs 3.5-8
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be a healing for your flesh
and a refreshment for your body.

During Advent Christians have an unusual opportunity to let their faith out "from under a bushel," but too often we don't. In fact, it seems that we are embarrassed or afraid to own our faith during this most Christ-centered of seasons. Here's a great blog from Frederick Schmidt, encouraging us to live into our faith this season. http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Mortal-Flesh-Keep-Silence-Frederick-Schmidt-12-12-2011.html

How do you feel about snow globes? You know, those glass balls with some water,
some kind of white stuff and some Christmasy figure inside it. Most, in my opinion, are pretty cheesy. They have a cheap-looking Santa and poorly
painted reindeer or a red and green manger scene (seriously?). Then, every once in a while, in the midst of the cheesiness there comes one that is genuinely beautiful. We had one for years that had escaped the Curse of Christmas Tacky, beautiful snow geese, realistic snow and a nice
quality pedestal. I enjoyed looking at it for many years and was disappointed when the geese had discolored to the point that it was time to say goodbye to it.

Maybe I’m stretching here, but it seems to me that the season itself is a lot like those snow globes. Most of what we see every year at this time resembles those tacky globes—designed for a quick smile but nothing really important—and wholly without beauty. You see then everywhere,
especially in the big box stores.

Then, just when you think The Curse of Christmas Tacky has completely taken over, something of true beauty appears, something that reminds you that the core of this holiday season is not some shoddy decoration but the beauty of the presence of God among human beings. Emmanuel—God with us—is the beautiful message of Christmas, a message not gilded with fake gold leaf but wrapped in plain cloth; not boxed in paper and ribbon but laid gently in manger straw. The beauty of Christmas is simple, unadorned and bare, yet it is without equal.

Once you see the beauty of Jesus, born on Christmas because of God’s unfathomable love, you yearn for the true beauty of Christmas to push aside the singing snowmen and the second-rate snow globes, and to fill your heart with a warmth that is not fleeting but will last a lifetime.

May this Christmas season fill you with the true beauty of presence of God in the baby Jesus!
PD

Pastor on the Titanic?

http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/6877/9/

Building Disciples Together

So, if someone asked you
what was happening at Shepherd of the Hills, what would you say?

You might answer about
Generations in Faith Together (GIFT), our total-family Sunday school. You could talk about the Faith 5 becoming a
part of our worship and devotional lives, or our striving to think in terms of
discipleship not membership. Perhaps
you’d tell of our efforts for the food bank for October or look ahead to the
Alternative Giving Fair coming up in November.
You might talk about weekly youth meetings or youth preparing for the
ELCA Youth Gathering, an intergenerational game night, confirmation off to a
great start, or the wide variety of worship styles on Sunday mornings. Or Bible Fitness or choirs or Stephen
ministry or RE:New worship on Saturdays or the group going to the HPI soup
supper or men’s Bible study or women’s Bible studies or the “date for eight” fellowship
event-groups that are starting. Or, or, or…

There are so many things
happening at SOTH right now! Thanks be
to God!! We are a busy place but not
just a busy place. We seem to have
purpose in the things we do, like we are doing…mission!

So, how would I describe
our mission? Fair question, since I
asked you. The phrase that sticks in my
head right now is Building Disciples Together.
This is what I believe that God is calling us to do and be here at
Shepherd of the Hills.

Building

At SOTH we seek to grow
and build our faith, to pursue a deeper understanding of God’s will in our
lives, to press on to see what God has in mind for us. The Christian faith is dynamic, that is it’s
always moving and changing and we seek the presence of God to build up the body
of Christ (Ephesians 4:12) in this place.

Disciples

We’ve been saying it for
a while now—the great commission was not to go and make members! Jesus calls us to be disciples—followers,
learners and servants. We give because
God has given to us and instilled in us a need to give; we serve because Jesus
became a servant and we love because Christ’s love has been poured into us
(Romans 5:5). Being disciples takes
effort but we are fueled by the Holy Spirit!

Together

Shepherd of the Hills
values community—we do this disciple-building in community! We want folks to hear the invitation: you are
welcome at Shepherd of the Hills. We
value all generations and we celebrate the variety of people who have found
community among us. We also know that
faith happens in community, that is, we learn how to grow and love and serve
best when we are among others on the same learning journey.

I never get tired of looking west. From my window, Long’s Peak and Mount Meeker
stand perfectly between the trees, as if someone had framed them just for
me. The Mummy Range peaks over the
foothills when the sun shines, providing a hint of their massiveness.

Mountain can evoke powerful emotions. They are symbolic—massive, unmoving, strong,
or cold, dangerous, foreboding.
Awe-inspiring and breathtaking, their grandeur reminds us of our
miniscule place—in status and location—on this planet.

But , in truth they are ever
changing, ground by wind and water, moving ever so slightly, pushed by subterranean forces unseen by human eyes.
They speak to us of larger things; of weather systems and tectonic plates, of ecosystems and microclimates.
And then there are the small things, mosses and marmots, petals and pikas.

You hike and walk and walk and hike and still, the mountain
is before you, as though it has taken a step for every one of yours.

To stand at the top of a mountain is to experience the
magnitude of creation in a way like no other.

When I see the mountains, I am reminded that the earth is a gift to us from God, the
Amazing Creator of this vibrant earth, with its myriad complex systems, given to us to steward and care for. We are called by God to take on this vital role as stewards of all we have been given. This call is wide and varied, from thinking about our “carbon footprint” to our footprint on mountain tundra.

As summer approaches and the mountains call us, go with
senses tuned to see and hear and touch and smell, even taste, the greatness of
our Creator in the majestic peaks and verdant forests of this amazing place we
live.