Ephphatha

god has been so good lately, even in the face of a pretty crummy situation (the economy, people around me struggling to put food on their table, etc) that i want everyone...well anyone who reads this...to say praise be to God! i continue to be amazed at how this Lord of ours works, how in the hardest and most difficult times of life God comes and rescues, comes and embraces, comes and moves and breathes hope to the despairing.

okay- so after an opening like that i think i better give some explanation. first of all, our little community of advent seems to be onto something in this neck of the woods and through different ministries i truly believe that we are living out our baptismal calling quite well. we have been offering a healing service of prayer for sometime now- i think it started sometime last winter- it started first with our youth group on Wednesday nights- once a month on the first wednesday- and then we decided to take it to the larger congregation once a month on the third sunday. anyway, the kids long for this service- it is done in a quiet, dark, candle-lit setting, with scripture, silence, meditation, a brief message and music. we then have a time when folks can come and be annointed and prayed for individually by myself or another person. when we started this ministry i was kind of skeptic thinking to myself that this will be nice, but really what are the kids going to think about it. oh how wrong i was. since day one, the kids have amazed me at what they bring forward, what they carry, and what they wish to have taken from them by the Lord. i am so humbled every time we do this that i get to be part of it, and that i get to see god working in such amazing ways first hand.

a couple of wednesdays ago it was time for the service. i got word earlier in the day that a senior in one of the high schools around here died in a tragic accident and knew that many of our kids would be impacted by that at some level. at the same time, one of our youth's father was waiting for a kidney transplant after many months, and a pretty serious kidney disease- so that weighed heavily on the minds of many as well as we were preparing for a benefit dinner to support them. well the stage was set for god to do something- that was my prayer, simple yet commanding- God move this night, do something to instill some kind of hope in these young people- and god answered....god moved, god prevailed....the young many who's father was awaiting the surgery was present, and for the first time in a long time he told me he was able to let go some of his fears, his pain, his anxiety- in fact he was so ashamed that he was visibly grieving that he left and went outside allowing the two of us to have some time to chat- my heart was broken by his plight, but my joy was great knowing that god was reminding him through this community that loves him how special he is, and that god is a god that does not abandon.

then last night...another long sunday- after a full morning we had a congregational meeting, and then the healing service in the evening- i was not that jazzed to be coming back to church at night after just getting home a couple hours before. i was not alone- one of the other leaders, n, admitted at the end of the service that he did not want to be their originally, but once again god moved, god filled, and god came to us in a way that completely and utterly amnazed everyone- the spirit heals, oh the spirit heals.

not sure why i wanted to write this particular note after not writing for so long...maybe i just needed to express how thankful i am for my calling, and for what god is up to. sure, there are issues...how do pay off the land so we can begin to worry about a building...how to love those that seem to be wronging us and our ministry, how to control fires....how to survive- but man god is good. as i was sitting in silence last night, watching the water fountain, the candles, and the cross, i had this amazing sense of peace- like god reminding me this is where i am supposed to be- this is my calling, this is my vocation, this is my place, and these are the people i have been called to serve- i have had periods of those thoughts before,but last night it was as if i finally understood why this calling every evolved. i am at peace, and my prayer continues to be that i can be an agent of God's grace for this community and for this church. thanks be to god for being faithful, and for taking a chance on a seminary grad from minnesota- going to northern michigan to develop a new congregation- looking back that seems ridiculous, i had no clue....heck i still don't but god's grace is sufficient. amen.

Labels: church, ministry

on july 1st, i was officially installed as the first pastor of advent lutheran church by our bishop-elect john schleicher. the day was absolutely amazing and i was humbled by the turnout of loving people and the reception following. it is almost impossible to me that i have been serving this area for almost two years- where has that time gone? it is equally amazing to me that we are a point as a congregation to be organized and now to officially have a pastor. god has done and continues to do amazing things in this little village of lake ann and it is such a joy to be able to be here.

i took a two week vacation after being installed (nice eh!) and was able to do much thinking and contemplating about where we are heading next. i have many mixed feelings- excitement, nervousness, anxiety, joy, confusion, fear, hope going through my mind as we now move into the next chapter of our life together as advent.
we are earnestly searching for land in hopes of finding a property that works for us so we can begin to move forward with the construction of our new facility- that scares the heck out of me to be honest, yet i know we need to keep the momentum moving. I pray daily that God continues to push us forward, out of our comfort zones so we can continue to touch the lives of others....while god continues to provide what we need to make this happen. as we move forward we are also adding a second worship service this fall- that too scares me a bit, almost like we are starting over. please pray for this transition as we figure out how to make this work.

e and k visited this past weekend and worshiped with us on sunday- it was awesome to have them and very fun to hear their perception of life at advent. k, is an amazing assisting minister as well :-).

may god bless you wherever you are.

jg

Labels: church, ministry

i continue to be amazed at what God is doing in lake ann and at advent. our congregation continues to grow, and we continue to see new faces and continue to face the problem of no room. we are heading to two services come next fall, but in the mean time learning to deal with the space issue. i swear that God is able to make our sanctuary (building occupancy of 79) bigger every week. last week, we had three baptisms- two young babies who were cousins and one of their fathers. we packed in 165 like sardines as you can see in the picture.

i am so thankful for what God is doing here, but at the same time am a bit anxious as we try to move forward. i fear, at times, that we are not going to be able to keep up with what we are doing...perhaps lose the momentum of where we are at, but more than anything i fear that new visitors will be put off by the lack of space. i pray that soon and very soon we will be able to find some land, and keep the fire marshall off our back! yet, i trust that god will continue to lead and guide us as we strive to follow his lead.

one of those baptized needs some prayer so i am requesting the prayers of you who may read this. this little boy, to the left, is named cameron. he is 10 months old and has recently been diagnosed with a disease called LCH and is currently undergoing Chemo treatments once a week. the prognosis is looking better every day, and the treatment seems to be working. they go back in at the end of the month to have tests done to see if the chemo was successful. to follow his story and share encouragement you can go to his carepage. if the link does not work go to carepages.com and search for camspace thanks in advance for your prayers.

and finally just wanted to put this picture on there of payton...cause i think she is cute!



peace

jg

Labels: church, ministry

well, it has been a really long time since i have even been to my own blog, but i figured this morning was as good as any to write something. life has been amazing lately. over the last three days i was at the synod assembly, and Advent was organized and recognized in front of the assembly. our final charter signing was around 180 people- it was an incredible blessing and twenty seven of our saints made the three hour plus trip down to lansing to take part in the event. also, at this years assembly we elected a new bishop- my current boss- John Schleicher was elected, on the last ballot, by one vote! it was pretty intense and exciting. so one would think, with all of that fun stuff, and the excitement of being organized, and with new people coming through our doors every week, with over twenty baptisms this passed year i would be on cloud nine- right? well...i am very excited at what god is doing- for sure, but as i sat last night just thinking i felt empty, what next god, where now, what can we do now to stir the same excitement as organization. is it a new building- perhaps as we need one really bad... maybe it is something else- i just don't know. anyway, in the midst of this mini moment of distress and emptiness i placed a call to the one and only pditty and she, as normal was able to put things in perspective for me. she commented that perhaps in some weird way this is a period of grief- going from the existence of a congregation under development to now, an organized congregation means change. roles change, energy changes, support changes some- which also creates some good tension, and i may be responding to this. she also pointed out how since this little shin-dig started (my call began august of 2005) there has been no natural time to rest because it has grown so fast, and faster than any of us were anticipating- therefore now i need to find that rest. who knows, i continue to hope that god shows me where i must go, how i should lead, and try to stay out of the way of the spirit's movement. if any of you read this, please do pray for advent, to continue to be energized by the spirits movement as we try to vision and figure out where next god. i wonder, and have picked the brain of many of my colleagues in development about whether or not it is possible to keep the feeling that is so present now alive as we grow- i have to believe it is, but many seem to think not. am i just too much of an optimist- i don't know- but with pentecost coming up i gotta belive that the spirit can still keep stirring even in the middle of no where michigan. what do you think?


on a personal note- the kids are great, and a's work is going well at the therapy office she is at.


until later...i have to go lead a bible study

jg

Labels: church, ministry

it has been sometime once again since my last blog and really i have no good reason for this other than the fact that i have just not done it. i miss it, i miss the outlet that blogging has sometime provided so like many of us have said before- I WILL TRY HARDER TO BLOG MORE!

anyway, what has brought me back to this world of blogging is the subject of suffering. i am leading an adult bible study at church on the book of job, and this week we spent the majority of our time focussing on the idea of suffering- what is the hardest part about it, what we hope/expect from other people when we find ourself in the midst of suffering, etc. i also brought this subject to our newly formed youth group and was amazed as normal by the wisdom that they young people bring forth. so i wonder, all you out there in blogger land- think about a time that you have been "suffering"- perhaps you never have- great, but if you have, or if someone you love has, what was the hardest part about it? and what did you hope you would get from other people.

related to suffering, i was saddened last night by the state of our world- more specifically the state of marriages and families. in my small group of eleven last night, 9 of us were from families that were divorced, and four of them more than once...that is just sad- and i know there were more in the other group as well. it broke my heart to see the way this was tearing at the very being of these kids, and i wonder what can the church say in response to this? what is our role as the community these kids come to for something? and what is that something? okay, enough with the questions, but please ponder with me.

in other news....payton turned 1 last month, and logan will be 4 in a week. my how the time goes. the church continues to grow- we now face the problem of being too big for our current space. we have a website up and in progress-
Advent Website. life is good, god continues to bless us in amazing ways.

jg

Labels: church, life, theological ramble

Here is a link to a recent article in the local paper. She does a pretty nice job of telling a little bit about what Advent is up to. Thought I would share....

Advent Article

Labels: church