Looking for an earlier Watchword?
- Friday, October 2 - There’s a place in the Getty Museum of Los Angeles, where you can stand in one spot and see this beautiful tree, straight and tall. Something happens if you were to edge even slightly to the left or the right, the tree changes. It’s an interesting phenomenon, because there isn’t a single tree, there are eight or 10 in a row, each the twin of the others. What you are experiencing is a form of art called anamorphic. Continue reading
- Rain - Rain: If you have never read Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein, you have missed out on wonderful excursions into fantasy drawings and poems, that tell stories, that frees your imagination, that sharpens your God-given gifts. It is not an adventure you should miss. Consider these 12 lines: ... Continue reading
- Tuesday, September 29 - Squirrel! Children's sermon -- Pastor: "What has four legs, scampers around on tree limbs, and has a big bushy tail?" No answer from the children. A clue is offered, "It likes nuts!" Finally, after a lengthy period of silence one small boy tentatively raises his hand and says: "I know the answer is Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me." Continue reading
- Monday, September 28 - The Case Against the Disciples (and us!): Have you ever thought we are very much like the disciples? I know, we know that Jesus is the Messiah, God incarnate, so we have that in common with the disciples. While we are not fisherman, we are common, ordinary human beings, fallible, and yet, we are followers of Jesus. In a Watchword, some two months ago, I asked “When was the last time you denied Christ?” I got one or two responses to that. You know, that is the last thing we want to admit that we have somehow denied him. Yet, we often slipped to one side when we are called upon to act like Christians in word and in deed. Continue reading
- Saturday, September 26 - Are You a Storyteller? Our good friend, Mac McKinley, has been a storyteller all his life. He uses his gifts to communicate humor and interesting ideas, all with a moral, all with a lesson to be learned. For many years, Mac journeyed, on a weekly basis, to the children’s cancer ward of Lutheran Hospital where he shared his stories and amazed the children with his magic act. He has shared his talent from the pulpit as a lay minister and has given the children’s message with his stories. His is a talent we admire. Continue reading
- Friday, September 25 - Which is it? Ten or Two? I have a dear friend who is well-schooled in the Bible. You give him a passage, old or new testament it makes no difference, and he will give you the attribution; book, chapter and verse. At dinner gatherings, there were times when he quizzed us on the Ten Commandments, because he knows them by heart. He would ask: What is the seventh commandment? Someone of our group would guess, and he would correct their wrong answer. He is really quite amazing, just a tad overbearing at times with his knowledge. I’ve got a slightly different take on the Ten Commandments. Continue reading
- Thursday, September 24 - Oh, well… One time, years ago, when I was a member of a bowling league, I had nailed nine strikes in a row. As I stood at the line ready to roll that tenth ball for bowling immortality, for some inexplicable reason I started to giggle! Literally, I was laughing! First of all, I couldn’t believe that I was on the verge of a perfect game, but secondly, a crowd of friends and strangers had formed from about my seventh frame on, watching me and cheering! Just that thought seemed so ridiculous. Me, with a 156-bowling average. Me, one roll away from 300? Of course, I blew it! Ended with a spare. Still, not bad. My fans just walked away! Wait! Where are you going? Oh, well. Continue reading
- Tuesday, September 22 - Prayer. Part 2, the practical. Years ago, I was doing the children’s sermon, sitting with all the little ones gathered around me, and I asked them a simple question: how do you pray? Immediately I heard from one, “Now I lay me down to sleep…” From another, “God is great and God is good …” There were other contributions, some silly, some to the point. Then I asked them to show me what it looked like when they prayed. To a child, they folded their hands, bowed their heads and closed their eyes. They were showing me their posture for praying. Continue reading
- Monday, September 21 - Prayer – Part 1 – A Lay-person’s Prayer: It’s the start of another week, and as we consider all that is scheduled or unscheduled, all that we have to do, let’s put all of that aside. Let me use this meditation as a common prayer for all of us, a prayer which hopefully prepares each one of us for the day, and the week ahead. Find a comfortable place to sit, quiet, and get settled in. Focus your mind on the Holy Spirit within, on Jesus, Lord and Savior, and on our great and generous God. Let us begin: Good morning Heavenly Father... Continue reading
- Saturday, September 19 - Peace in the Storm: Peace is knowing that despite the reality of the storm there is a greater reality in the One who can calm the storm. Peace is the tranquility to stand in the storm and know without question that everything will be alright. Peace is knowing that Jesus is in the boat with me. When the rains fall and the winds blow, I can be content just knowing that he is in control. Real peace is attainable only in Christ. There is no security outside of Him, none. Isn’t that beautiful and true? Continue reading
- Friday, September 18 - Storm Praying: The fires, the rain, the wind, and those disasters hit us as a nation. But the Covid-19, the virus, is worldwide. It touches the just and the unjust, with equal power and loss. The following is a poem of meaning by Joan Sedlacek, that appeared in a recent edition of The Evangel, a publication of the Association of Lutheran Churches: The days are alike in their sameness, The rhythm and pattern of life is gone... Continue reading
- Thursday, September 17 - Storms: Driving back from Illinois, late yesterday afternoon, the news was filled with so many disasters, throughout our country. Take your pick; on the west coast, the east coast and the gulf, racial stresses and, of course, the Covid19 is with us in awful supply. I don’t know how many million people are currently displaced by the raging forest fires in the west. And that’s not even the worst part of it. The air quality is not fit to breathe. I think about the long-range affect over days, weeks, months, and probably years for those people, on top of their loss of homes. Continue reading
- Tuesday, September 15 - Capernaum: I don’t think we consider Jesus having a hometown. Our thoughts immediately go to the fact that Jesus was God incarnate, and the whole world, as well as the vast universe, was His “hometown”. But, Capernaum was Jesus’ home town, or home base, for His first year or so in His ministry. He came to Capernaum fresh from His six weeks in the desert and His baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. He may have returned to Nazareth briefly, but the next that we know, historically, is that he arrived in Capernaum, purchased the plot of land and built His house. The best historical records suggest that there were frequent gatherings in His house, including the one where tiles were removed from His roof so that a crippled man could be lowered to Jesus. Continue reading
- Monday, September 14 - Hope: Paul reminds us that though we may be at the end of our rope, we are never at the end of hope! Our perishable bodies are subject to sin and suffering, but God never abandons us. There is a wonderful painting entitled Hope by the English painter George Frederic Watts. It shows a lone blindfolded female figure sitting on a globe, playing a lyre that has only a single string remaining. The background is almost blank, its only visible feature a single star. How does that symbolize hope? Continue reading
- Saturday, September 12 - True Life: Practice, practice, practice. Pro golfer Lee Trevino tells us that the more he practices the luckier he gets. I believe that. I wonder if there is an application here for us? How about this -- In the book of John Jesus tells us “A new covenant I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” I wonder if anyone could love as he loves us without Him in our lives. Think about it, unless we have an intimate relationship with Jesus, I mean every day and every day, how can we possibly understand the fullness of what he is asking us, no, commanding us to do. Practice, practice, practice. Continue reading
- Friday, September 11 - Fear of The Lord: Do you see the thread running through these passages? The presence of the Holy Spirit in each of us, the instruction contained in the Beatitudes, the reassurance, the need to fear God in the sense of reverencing Him, and finally, I am with you always… We need to keep that in mind. We each have concerns about the future. You sometimes wonder, when listening to some of the great classical music composers, whether they really know how to bring a piece to an end. One of the most notorious is Beethoven. Continue reading
- Thursday, September 10 - Me thinks, perhaps, tis’ not sin that bedevils me. (Reading too much Shakespeare?) Said a different way, maybe it’s not sin that causes us to fall short. I wonder if we are confused by the whole concept of sin. Here’s the thing, in 1 Timothy 1:15 the Apostle Paul refers to himself as the worst of sinners, yet I wonder if there are times when I am part of that club. Guilty of sin in the first degree? Then, there’s another part of me that says, wait a minute! Continue reading
- Tuesday, September 8 - Lament: Here’s an old-fashioned Biblical word for you: Lament. Yes, like “Lamentations”, but what does it mean to lament? I thought I had an idea, until I looked it up in my Webster’s. I kind of, sort of was right. Here is what I found: Lament, a mourning, wailing, to feel deep sorrow. To regret deeply. It is also a literary and musical term meant to convey deep sadness. Is that what you thought? Well here’s another definition, or at least a different application. Continue reading
- Monday, September 7. Labor Day - Your Parachute: Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience! One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!" Continue reading
- Sunday, September 6 - Two days ago, I learned that my sister-in-law and occasional confidante was afflicted with reoccurring cancer. Something happens to a person when you learn that someone very close to you, someone that has had a significant role in your life over the years, is so very ill. It’s as if you are on the verge of missing an important compass point, a source of wisdom. In answer to my request for permission to share her story, she responded with these statements: Continue reading
