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Our Daily Thread 1-17-15

Good Morning!

Today’s header photo is from Cheryl.

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On this day in 1773 Captain Cook’s Resolution became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle. 

In 1871 Andrew S. Hallidie received a patent for a cable car system. 

In 1893 Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown when a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.  

And in 1912 English explorer Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by one month. Scott and his party died during the return trip. 

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Quote of the Day

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Benjamin Franklin

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 Today is Eddie Carswell’s birthday. From NewSongVEVO

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Anyone have a QoD?

91 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-17-15”

  1. At first I misread the comment about Capt. Cook. I was going to comment that the Vikings are known to have settled Iceland.
    Wrong part of the world. Nobody every went to the south.

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  2. The sky is a lovely color this morning, overcast with white and the palest of peach, as the new day arrives. When husband got up, Miss Bosley was at his feet with a paper ball ready to play fetch before he even had time to put in his brain.

    I have my coffee and I am waiting for a little more natural daylight for reading my Bible.

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  3. It was as I feared. It seems the voices in my head Thursday weren’t all wrong. At least this time I was somewhat prepared. They have known they were going to let me go since some time in September which is when I started feeling like an outsider. I told him I had expected it before Christmas. I told him that I had been thinking about a back up plan and almost made a few calls while I was at lunch. He told me that he hated it, but it simply came down to numbers and budget. He said I had done everything they asked of me. I told him my only complaint was that I was never given any feedback on what I had done positively or negatively. They will back me up on whatever I decide to tell the agents. I can stay and be an agent if I want to. They have even mentioned me to a couple of prospective employers.
    I have until the end of February then I will be unemployed.
    This has left me feeling …I don’t know … I just know that every time I start feeling secure somethings comes along to reinforce the insecurity.

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  4. Oh Kim, I’m sorry. I already came on here once this morning and checked yesterday’s, today’s, and both prayer threads looking for you.

    I love you, and I’m sorry to hear this. May you have wisdom in making the decisions.

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  5. Kim, I have been checking, like Cheryl, all along to hear from you. You have such keen insight to know what is happening, and that probably comes from having worked in sales and knowing people. It does sound like the boss does not want to burn any bridges so in a sense it does mitigate the situation. From what he said it does not sound like a totally unemployed situation if you are still able to be an agent. But if things aren’t selling then it is the same as unemployment. There is no employer loyalty these days in the private sector so in a sense I guess people have to take on the attitude of basically being self-employed as a freelancer even if they get hired. I can see how this roller coaster, with highs and lows, is not the ride you would prefer. God is the only One who can keep us secure in our seats and the roller coaster frame from collapse as we go up, up, up on the climb knowing during the climb that the peak brings the moment when the stomach feels like it goes into the throat on the quick descent. For whatever it means to you, your friends here are on the ride with you, and praying for God’s comfort. Lean into Him, my dear Sister.

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  8. Kim- Sorry about your job loss.

    Oh, and on advice from our pastor we will most likely not sell the house on contract. Too many “what-ifs”.

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  12. I’m so sorry, Kim. 😦 Ditto what everyone else has said. I suspect real estate is kind of like newspapers are right now, unpredictable — and very insecure just by the nature of the market and shrinking budgets (although I suspect “job security” is something of a myth for everyone).

    Sounds like they valued you as a worker and it’s encouraging that they’re trying to put out a positive word about you to other potential employers. Always good to know you’ll get a good reference. In other words, it wasn’t you, it was their budget.

    And you have some time.

    God has His purpose in it all (for your good and His glory). Nothing comes to pass that isn’t ordained by Him. But it’s hard since we’re pretty much in the dark about the specifics of that grand plan on our end, at least for the time being. 😦

    For the moment, things just seem like they stink.

    I’m praying for comfort & peace — and for something wonderful to eventually open up, sooner rather than later would be good, Lord. 🙂

    But maybe for this weekend, you can just do a Scarlett and think about all that “tomorrow.”

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  13. I have always said things look better in the light of day…it’s the long nights when things look so bleak. Mr. P was quite supportive. We can survive; it will just be harder. There won’t be any extra money.
    I may put my license on inactive, take the month of March off, and just BE.

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  14. I’m sorry to hear about the job loss, Kim. I know how it felt when my father would get laid off. He never did get another steady job after the last layoff, and the family (there were three of the siblings at home then) survived for two years before he entered retirement and got the old age pension. It is still hard for them now, with both parents on the pension (my mother never worked after she had children), and were it not for the fact that they own their house, they wouldn’t be able to keep their heads above water. Yet, the cliché is true, money isn’t everything. I don’t think we could be happier. My second and youngest siblings and their families both live from hand to mouth as well, yet they, like my parents, are completely contented and generous to a fault (eldest sibling and family have a little more, which they generously share with us – they bought my parents a new stove when the old one quit this fall). Sometimes, I think wistfully of having enough for all the things I need; but lately, whenever I do that, I realize that if I had all I needed, I wouldn’t know the provision that God has so graciously given me this past decade. During all that time, I have not had a regular full-time or part-time job, only casual or seasonal work – with the exception of my time in West Africa – yet I have never really lacked for anything, and I’ve never been on social assistance (unless I count the student loan which I paid back). Sometimes, I think it would be nice to have a ‘normal’ life – and I certainly appreciate having my own room to be ill in today – but I remember that the Son of Man did not even have a place to lay his head. He said we would be able to do what he did and more, so I know he will help all those who look to him for help in these uncertain times.

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  15. Kim- Take that month off and be. It is good to get away from the rat race once in a while. Spend time with Mr P and the family. Go to the beach and read or just watch what’s going on around you. Travel. Veg out.

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  16. Pastor Srteve taught on Genesis 6:1-13 Wednesday night. About the flood.
    He gave us a paper outlining his major points.
    1. There is a line which can be crossed which makes God’s judgment inevitable.
    He gives two examples: The Amorites (Gen 15:13f and Sodom and Gomorrah
    In Jeremiah 7:16, God says Israel crossed it.
    2. Why had they crossed the line?
    –You could no longer tell the godly from the ungodly. (I see his point, but I don’t follow his explanation about the “sons of God” being descendants of Cain who intermarried the descendants of Abel. I don’t know what the Bible means by that, but I don’t think that is it.)
    — Human hearts were corrupt. Their TV, movie and all other thoughts were laced with sex and violence (my interpretation)
    — The earth was filled with violence. (Are we there yet?)
    3. The last days will be a repeat performance. Lk. 17:26-30, Matthew 24.
    4. God’s heart still grieves when He has to judge. 6:6
    5 It is still possible to live a godly life in an ungodly world. 6:8-9
    6. Beware of polls. The majority is often wrong. This was his major point in all this.

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  17. Posted by a friend on FB:

    It’s hard to say what God is doing in a person’s life… but not whether or not he is doing something. “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid”

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  18. Kim – I’m sad for you. At the same time, I know that God has a plan. I try to keep that in mind with our situation, too, but sometimes it is hard to remember, isn’t it?

    Several years ago, during another time of semi-crisis, God gave me this verse to hold on to…

    “Cast your burden on the Lord,
    And He shall sustain you;
    He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”
    Psalm 55:22 (NKJV)

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  19. The reason that verse meant so much at the time was that I had specifically been praying for God to sustain my husband through a tough time (working long hours & then going for radiation in the early evenings, five days a week, for eight weeks). I think we read Psalm 55 together one Sunday in the service, & that verse almost jumped off the page at me.

    God really is so good.

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  21. Sorry, Kim, for your job loss. That is always difficult. Perhaps it will lead to a better situation for you in the long run. At any rate, I hope you can enjoy some time off.

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  24. Caught a glimpse of a Law&Order rerun (2009) tonight that was about transgender children & adults … And guess how the show came down on that whole subject? 😦

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  26. Most definitely — and they frequently featured conservative/Christian/family-friendly folk as evil “perps.” But when they’re not doing that, it’s a good show. 🙂

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  29. Mumsee- If you are getting the music from a legitimate online retailer like Amazon, Pandora, and iTunes, or various sites like Noise Trade or the musician’s website, then it is legal. If it is a file sharing site then it may not be.

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  30. I guess I should clarify: a site in which the file sharing is done with individuals which already have the music, i.e- you’re getting it second-hand, not from sites where you are the “first” owner of it.

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  33. Illegal music: my children bought each other music things this last Christmas and some of them turn out to have internet access which they steal from the public school, having been given the password by various students in the school. From there, they go to places like musify for free music. I have not been able to figure that one out. Apparently, some of musify you have to pay for and some you don’t some. Some musify sites are legitimate, others are not. All very confusing to my untechnical mind. I understand with ITunes, they would have to pay and musify is with ITunes but they have a lot of music and have never paid for any.

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  34. I’ve been praying for and thinking about Kim’s situation this morning, and I wonder if most of us could benefit from a study of the OT Joseph?

    Chas, you up to facilitate an on-line Bible study?

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  35. Timely, Desiring God just this past week posted something about Joseph and why the Bible spends so much time telling us about him:

    http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/how-involved-is-god-in-the-details-of-your-life

    “Joseph had a unique role to play in redemptive history. But God’s intricate involvement in Joseph’s life is not unique to yours. One of the many reasons God gives us a close-up of Joseph’s life is to show us how active he is, how he never leaves us or forsakes us all along the way, in both the good and the evil things we experience (Hebrews 13:5). …

    “Yes, God was even working the evil, heinous things people did to Joseph for good. We can say that because that’s precisely what Joseph himself said to his brothers about their betrayal of him, ‘As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today’ (Genesis 50:20).

    “The detailed narrative of Joseph’s life, among many other things, is a loving letter from your Good Shepherd (John 10:11) — the same Good Shepherd who guided Joseph through green pastures and the valley of the shadow of death, pursuing him with good all the days of his life (Psalm 23) — to remind you that no matter what you are experiencing, sweet or bitter, good or evil, no matter how long it’s lasting, he has not left you alone (John 14:18). He is with you (Psalm 23:4), he is working all things together for good (Romans 8:28), and he will be with you to the end (Matthew 28:20).”

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  36. 4 things Jesus didn’t die for:

    http://madeformore.co/4-things-jesus-didnt-die-for/#hfiHScftLyp2LTIQ.01

    ” … Look around your church, how many people are there for morals rather than salvation?

    “How many want law rather than grace?

    “You know what the problem is with grace? It’s not useful. It’s not marketable. It’s also not too complicated, and oh yeah, it’s free. Can you think of anything less American?

    “And yet, grace is all we need. Our religious, pharisaical hearts scream for us to add our ‘Do’ to Jesus’ ‘Done.’ But he doesn’t need it. Somehow we’ve fooled ourselves into believing that it is our spiritual resumé that will make us acceptable to God.

    “We get comfortable with a moral standard to which we can attain, and then pass judgment on all those that can’t. Our pride and self-righteousness are just as offensive to God as the sins of the prostitute and the pimp. …. “

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  37. and this is for 6 arrows (or anyone else who took music lessons as kids — or who may be giving lessons now! 🙂 )

    http://mic.com/articles/108022/science-just-discovered-something-amazing-about-what-childhood-piano-lessons-did-to-you

    “If your parents forced you to practice your scales by saying it would ‘build character,’ they were onto something. The Washington Post reports that one of the largest scientific studies into music’s effect on the brain has found something striking: Musical training doesn’t just affect your musical ability — it provides tremendous benefits to children’s emotional and behavioral maturation. … “

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  38. mumsee, I was poking around about Musify, and it looks legit to me — it’s rated highly in reviews of free music apps

    Not sure where “illegal” downloads of music/movies, are found online, but I do know it’s been a problem for artists.

    This app, however, looks to be OK (to me & from what I read, anyway).

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  40. Good, because my children now have around ten thousand songs on their devices. Who listens to that much music???? And only one has spent any money on them. Of course, they buy the devices from the pawn shop so what kind of music is on them also comes into play.

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  43. Anon @ 10:19
    I would do whatever anyone is interested in. I’m not sure that a structured on-line Bible study would be helpful. But, Pastor Steve has a “rabbit chasing” session every Wednesday in which he deals with questions people ask. e.g. “do you have to be baptized to be saved?”, “Is suicide the unpardonable sin?” etc.

    Along that line, I have been thinking about a post I made about last Wednesday’s Bible study.
    The flood came because people crossed the line.
    What is the line?
    Can a nation like the US cross it, or does it only apply to God’s chosen, i.e. Israel?
    Nations rise and fall. Empires rise and fall.
    Most of that is not directly related to their spiritual life, but it is affected by the moral situation.
    (I saw a post once that said, “It wasn’t the Goths who destroyed Rome, it was the free circuses”. Lots of truth in that.
    The question that concerns me: Is there a line for America? Have we crossed it?
    If you look at the history of the USA, you can see God’s hand at work. There have been gross injustices. slavery, and the way we treated the Indians. But, essentially, we have been a God fearing nation. It seems that God has protected us. I could point out some illustrations.
    Back to the question. Is there a line? Did we cross it?
    I believe there is a line.
    Cross it? I don’t know where God’s line is. But I don’t think God is worried about stores open on Sunday, women wearing short skirts and “R” rated movies.
    I think there are three things that may consist of the line
    !. Abortion on demand.
    2. Proliferation of narcotics. No one mentions it, but the gang rule in Mexico & South America is because Americans buy their narcotics.
    3. Same sex marriage.
    This is likely the longest post I’ve ever made.

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  44. Elvera is in there watching FBC Columbia on TV.
    Just like there are no ugly Christmas trees, there are two songs that I don’t believe can ever be done poorly.
    Silent Night
    Amazing Grace.

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  45. Today’s sermon was on the 3rd chapter of Samuel. Eli failed and was being replaced. I will have to email my priest to get the exact way he said it, but it had to do with the grace Eli showed Samuel when he knew the Lord was replacing him.

    The Communion song this morning was Just As I Am. I grew up hearing this song as an altar call and there were times it seemed to last forever and became painful to hear. Sometimes I wanted to go forward so they could quit playing the song, but I always loved the words to the song. This morning Wendell, or Music Director put a little different spin on it. It was just a little more upbeat. I wish I could share it with you.

    I have been mulling over my exit strategy. I replaced a well loved woman who died unexpectedly. She died in October and I was hired in January. Even in the interview process I told them that it sounded like really big shoes to fill and I wouldn’t be able to do it. You can’t compete with a ghost. I think about a week and a half before I leave I will write and email to the agents telling them something along the lines of:
    I knew coming into this job that I couldn’t replace Dana and that the first person to follow her would have difficulty. I have failed you. After discussing this with management I have decided that February 28th will be my last day as the Director of Agent Services. I am going to take some time off and take care of some personal things. My going away party will be at ____________. Please join me.

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  47. I won’t. All things considered I still think they are one of the best companies in the area. I have always had tremendous respect for the two bosses. They told me I could handle it any way I wanted and whatever story I told the agents they would back me up.

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  49. I have been thinking about that the church should be somewhat like an anchor holding the building in a neighborhood while members go out in some way to fish the surrounding areas for the lost and seeking. This thought led me to think about how Jesus went out and found the disciples where they were, not where he was. And he told them, “Follow me.” The accounts in the Bible are all of those who did follow. Did he ask others who chose not to follow, or did he only go to those he divinely knew would follow him? What does this mean for the church today?

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  50. Donna – This morning, our interim pastor, Pastor John, preached about the importance of being involved in some way in helping or ministering in the church, but not from a viewpoint of “having” to do so to be saved or be accepted by God. He said that being involved in some way, even if it’s a seemingly-insignificant little way, is essential for one’s spiritual health, & that one can easily “spiritually atrophy” if not involved in some way.

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  52. Chas, I do think that “Amazing Grace” can be done poorly, and this is how. I think it’s a “black church” thing, but I’m not sure, but if they run out of verses they know, or they only want to sing the first verse and one other verse, they will run through the whole tune just singing “Praise God.”

    When one of my roommates got married, she had her voice teacher sing at her wedding. She asked her to sing “Amazing Grace.” I don’t remember if it was when the wedding party was marching down the aisle, but something like that that would take some time. She was asked to sing the first verse, and someone asked her what if it took longer than just one verse, and she said, “I’ll just sing ‘Praise God.'” I thought she was joking, but sure enough, she sang just one verse of “Amazing Grace” and then sang “Praise God” 14 times as the second verse. (I might have counted wrong, but I think it’s 14 times.) When that song has so many lovely verses, why on earth would someone, instead, turn it into meaningless repetition? If it had been my wedding, I would have said, “No, sing verses so-and-so and so-and-so.”

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  53. Last night, I wrote on Rants & Raves, in part, “… I had a bad situation with the pastor who recently left. If I wasn’t a mature enough Christian, knowing that God wanted me to stay put in this church, I would have left over it. Unfortunately, many people did leave, including at least a couple who were considered pillars of the church.”

    This “situation” was kind of brewing over a number of years. I would email him occasionally (only a few emails over a period of six years, not bombarding him with them) with concerns or questions I had, but he would not reply. He often referred to answering emails, so I know it wasn’t that he just didn’t “do” emails.

    About three of my friends & acquaintances who left mentioned, when asked, that they felt they were not listened to, that their concerns were ignored, so I realized this wasn’t “just me”.

    Not long before he left, he had posted something on Facebook about the importance of giving people “the good news”, not “the bad news” (IOW, preaching about Jesus’ love, but not about sin). I commented that it is hearing “the bad news” that makes “the good news” so good. He did not reply to my comment, but he “liked” the comments of someone who did get argumentative with me. (I did not enter the argument.)

    The next Sunday, he brought that Facebook post up in his sermon. He painted people who believe in preaching about sin as being judgmental & critical, as if they want to point out people’s specific sins, & mentioned the verse about the speck vs. the plank. He didn’t use my name, but I felt extremely uncomfortable, & I knew that there were many in the congregation who had probably seen that post. Maintaining eye contact with him when he looked my way took quite a strong act of my will.

    It was one or two Sundays after that that he announced his resignation as pastor. I was very relieved.

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  54. Karen, I think you’re right — we need to hear the whole counsel of God preached, both the law and the gospel.

    Our pastor was saying today that someone had called him during the week, concerned about the direction his church was heading — apparently their pastor’s most recent sermon was something of a pep talk on how 2015 can be a good year for your finances, your relationships (in other words, a Christianity that “works” to make your life better).

    No law, no gospel. 😦

    My co-worker who grew up in a liberal Presby church (her dad was the minister) was saying that church, for her when she was growing up, was all about social causes, volunteering at the shelters, political movements, being ‘good’ liberal people. Nothing wrong with doing good works, they indeed are the evidence of genuine faith. But it really sounded to me like they got it completely backwards and left God out of the equation all together. She seems to have come away with virtually no clue about who God is or what the gospel really means. 😦

    Our sermon today was Rom. 9:10-13, which of course touched a lot on God’s sovereignty. Unfathomable riches to be mined.

    I stayed for SS (which always is an open, Q&A format with the pastor) — Norma, whom I usually drive to and from church, stayed home today; she doesn’t really have the endurance to stay the extra 40-50 minutes for SS, so when she’s not with me I do try to stay as I always get so much out of it.

    I’m planning also to head back tonight for the Westminster Confession of Faith study, which I’ve not been regular at attending. Tonight’s class explores God’s decrees.

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  55. It is times like this when I read what some of you post that I am glad I attend a church that follows the liturgical calendar. There is always an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, a Gospel passage, and a Psalm. For at least 500 or 600 years scholars have studied the Bible and put the passages together so that the priest’s sermon has to revolve around them and not cherry pick to get across their own message.
    Today was Samuel chapter 3, the sexual immorality passage our of Corinthians, and a passage out of John.
    Jokingly Robert, the priest, said he was just going to leave Corinthians alone and preach out of the Old Testament. As I told you his sermon was on grace and being gracious when you are being replaced (hmmmm…..anyone you know of that could have used hearing that this morning?) Eli had lost God’s favor and was being replaced with Samuel. When Eli asked Samuel what the vision or message was from God, he had to know it wasn’t good. Why did Eli lose favor? His sons were immoral. They were taking the best of the foods for themselves and when women would come to the temple they would take advantage of them….How did that sexual immorality passage slip back in there?
    Earlier this week my Bible Study email had a message about God’s grace being sufficient. All the yammering about grace, perhaps I was being prepared.

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  59. We had the most amazing sunrise this morning — I opened my eyes (looking out the east-facing bedroom window toward the harbor) and the sky was the most brilliant, orange blaze … A few folks caught images of it over the water for FB.

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  61. In my comment at 3:29, I forgot to mention he was preaching from 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, that, as members of the body, we are to use our gifts to bless & help the body as a whole.

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  62. No, Chas. I wasn’t lurking. I had just logged on for the first time today and there it was.

    We discovered part of our slow internet problem. It was the wifi router. Don’t get a Belkin. Our new one is a Netgear. It is fast enough that I can now enjoy AJ’s videos at home!.

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  63. The town she lives in faces the harbor, it actually is the port of Los Angeles and faces east.

    I saw many sunrises walking down those hills to school, facing east.

    My husband and I are in from a long hike and a stop to buy new sneakers for both of us and more insulation from Home Depot. We’ve got a young veteran who attends the local JC working for us. When our home was remodeled, they replaced the furnace and ducting close to it, but ignored the rest.

    Matt discovered all the other ducts were broken, wide open, and not insulated.

    My husband, “Mr. Energy Efficiency,” is chagrined he didn’t check on that when he did the house inspection. But noted, “I assumed the floors were well insulated since they were always warm–not that they entire crawl space was being heated!”

    It’s just another opportunity to minister to another good kid. Once the yard is done, we may need to move again so we can continue to offer house repair opportunities . . . 🙂

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  65. My former pastor’s view was that you take the person to Jesus, & after he is saved, the Holy Spirit will convict him of his sins. That’s actually how it worked in my life. And I agree that we don’t need to be going around pointing out people’s sins to them (although there are times we might need to gently say something). But there needs to be some preaching about sin & the effects of sin, even mentioning certain sins by name that plague our society.

    I sometimes wonder if some of today’s young people know that sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend is sinful. I have seen Facebook posts by Christian young people making clear in certain ways that they are in a sexual relationship. (For instance, two young women actually shared photos of their boyfriends in their beds in the morning. !!!)

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  66. Mumsee- Re: your music issue- Some music is available for legally free download. But it does seem like you children have gotten into some illegal. I don’t know the site you mention, so I cannot say for sure.

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  67. Kim – Some pastors believe in seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit about what to preach each Sunday, as each congregation has their own needs & problems. That can, of course, be abused by a pastor only preaching on his own ideas, but it can also be a great blessing when done by a pastor who is very in tune with & obedient to the Holy Spirit.

    Also, Kim, I want to mention this: This afternoon, after he was finished with his orders, Lee & I watched an episode of Blue Bloods that I’d recorded a couple Fridays ago. (Since Lee doesn’t have a lot of time for TV, we’re often behind on the few shows we watch together – NCIS, Person of Interest, & Blue Bloods.) That episode featured a mentally & physically disabled vet needing help. (One of the characters eventually pulled some strings to get him into a VA hospital.) As a veteran himself (although not a war vet), Lee always is moved by dramas involving veterans or military men.

    After the show, I said that obviously that was just a fictional character, but I know of a couple real veterans who need prayer. Then I told him about your Mr. P, & his son with PTSD. He said he would pray.

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  68. Karen I don’t mean to insult. I am just leary of those who might twist words to their own agenda. You have to consider my background.
    Someone sent me the links to some great videos I am watching on YouTube

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  69. Michelle, I can’t currently see the header photo, so I had to think to see what you saw as a bunny and an alligator. Then I remembered . . . while we do indeed get rabbits here, the one in the photo is a fake rabbit that sits on the decorative branch. And probably the “gator” is the side of the birdbath (it fell over or got blown over before the snowstorm).

    But the three male cardinals and the American tree sparrow are real. 🙂

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  71. I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable with a church where the pastor wanted to get the Holy Spirit’s direct counsel each week on what to preach rather than planning out sermons with some advance preparation and direction. For one thing, I don’t think it is necessary (the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture, and a second “inspiration” isn’t necessary), and it also can lead to lazy preparation or random sermons.

    I definitely prefer exegetical, expository sermons (preaching through a book of the Bible or at least a specific biblical theme–but thematic preaching being more an “intro” than a regular feature, say a couple of sermons on “covenant” to prepare for teaching through Genesis).

    Kim, I think there is something good and something not so good about the sermons being “set.” I’ve actually never sat under that specific style, but it seems like it keeps it from being subjective, the pastor’s own favorite sermons, but it also ties his hands and limits him. I guess my biggest worry would be how many years are in the “cycle”? I mean, I wouldn’t want a pastor to be required to preach on one particular passage every two or three years. And is it consecutive through Scripture (for example, at least five sermons in a row from Romans) and covering all of Scripture in at least some fashion?

    When I hear about pastors taking twenty years to preach through Romans, part of me says, “Wow, that must be wonderful!” But another part says that unless they are bringing the rest of Scripture in too (or going through other passages far more quickly in the evening service and/or Sunday school), their people aren’t really being fed from all of Scripture. So I’d be more inclined toward a pastor who takes, say, a year and a half in Romans and then six months in the minor prophets, then eight months in Luke, six months in Proverbs, then a year in Acts. Or whatever, but covering Old and New Testament, slowly enough to be fairly thorough but fast enough to make progress.

    But a year of sermons on “marriage” and then a year on “taking care of your finances” and then eight months on “witnessing” . . . or a sermon here and there about whatever topic the pastor wants to cover . . . I’d find that hard to endure after a while. I want to hear about God, not practical tips for living, though of course hearing God proclaimed will affect our living.

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  72. Cheryl – As I understand it, these pastors do have some sort of plan for their sermons, but stay open to how the Holy Spirit may lead. One pastor (one of the godliest men I’ve ever known) would often start off telling us he had been working on a planned sermon all week, but then sensed the Holy Spirit directing him to preach on something else. Those sermons were often quite powerful.

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  74. Let’s hear it for piano lessons! Thanks for that link, Donna. 🙂

    If anyone ever wants to know on Sundays what the sermon text and other scripture readings were in my church, just see Kim’s posts on the same. 🙂

    Our readings, Cheryl, are on a three-year cycle. However, occasionally our pastors will deviate from the plan to do a sermon series that may be a few weeks in length. More often in the summer than other times, it seems, though not the whole summer.

    I like that the readings in any one week (when following the pericope, as they call the plan — or the lectionary) coordinate well. The problem I can see with following this plan exclusively or almost exclusively is that there are some parts of the Bible that will never be covered. So I’m glad that our pastors do step outside the plan now and then.

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  79. Chas, we get it all — sunrises over the harbor (to the east) in the morning; sunsets over the ocean to the south & west. We’re surrounded by water. 🙂

    I also saw some unidentifiable things in that photo, but didn’t want to appear stupid. 😉

    Our pastor spends a lot of time studying and preparing sermons; we typically go through a book of the Bible in, oh, a year or two or so. … In depth.

    And he often cautions us that the actual Scripture that is read is infallible — his words are not. So bring your own Bibles.

    The class tonight was excellent, we finished up the section on the Holy Spirit and have moved into God’s Eternal Decrees (in the Westminster Confession of Faith).

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  80. Oh, and about our geographical views: If we’re lucky, we also see snow-capped mountains to the north and northeast. 🙂 there’s a reason people moved here from the Midwest in such high numbers. …

    Karen, I like Blue Bloods, have seen it mostly in reruns here and there.

    In other TV news: Gary Sinise (whom I believe is somewhat conservative, active in veterans affairs) will star in the new spinoff from Criminal Minds.

    And, for those interested, here’s a link to the Westminster Confession of Faith below — it’s short. But it took 10 years for 120 really smart guys to write it. 🙂

    I have to say, we have also a good number of very hip, smart young guys attending our classes. The pastor joked tonight about whether there was anyone with an IQ of under 180 who’d like to ask a question …

    Click to access CFLayout.pdf

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  81. 6 arrows, that link was posted on FB originally by the wife of my retired pastor — an accomplished pianist who has given piano lessons in her home for many, many years.

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  83. And I know our pastor bathes his study and sermon preparation in much prayer — He doesn’t trust himself to “shoot from the hip,” as he puts it now (he actually deferred a question on Ps. 2 tonight, saying he’s very familiar with it, it’s probably his ‘favorite’ psalm, but he he didn’t want to exegete it without more thought and renewed study with regard to the specific question that was being asked — in the “old days,” as a “young man,” he said tonight, he wouldn’t have hesitated — as an “older man,” he won’t go there without careful reflection).

    He has shared about his early days in the ministry and how he had no qualms about speaking off the cuff.

    One famous story he’s told on himself was when he was young in the pulpit & took a fire hose and sprayed some people in the congregation … Not sure I remember the point that was supposed to make. … But it’s an amusing story, to be sure. 🙂

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