Did I miss you?

I blew away all my links to your blogs when I changed my template. If you were previously in my blogroll and you don't see your blog in the list, please let me know so I can add you back. I was just going by memory, but I'm sure to have missed someone.

Guess who's coming for a visit??

Uncle Ben

&

Hooper Ham!

Otherwise known as Ben & Sam.

This is a cute story:

My brother Jeff has to travel from where they live in Ottawa out to Calgary for his work. While he was gone for about a week one time, Sam and his mom devised a game where she would tie a dish towel around his shoulders and he would become...Super Sam!! Except when Sam said it, it came out "Hooper Ham".

So my brother comes back from his business trip and he's in the kitchen making dinner when Sam comes running in with a dish towel in his hands shouting "HOOP-er HAM! HOOP-er HAM!" and thrusts the dishtowel up at his father. Jeff has no idea what this is all about, but good father that he is says encouragingly to his son, "Yes Sam, it IS a nice towel isn't it?"

Sam tries again. "Wanna be HOOP-er Ham, Daddy!" and offers up the towel again.

"Oh, I see, you want to help with the dishes, do you little fellow? Well come on up and you can help dry."

This is too much for Sam. He collapses on the floor sobbing sadly, "No daddy, I Hooper Ham."

Finally four-year old Ben comes in from the family room to see what the commotion is. He quickly determines that Sam wants the towel tied on his shoulders and clues his father in. Jeff, bewildered, ties the towel on and Sam, happy now, takes off in imaginary flight.

"I HOOP-er HAM!"

Ben and Sam will be appearing at their Aunt Anita's house for a limited engagement this Canada Day weekend.

Perhaps I should clarify...

Oh boy. Sometimes I forget that even though we all serve the same Lord, as Christians we don't always use the same words interchangeably. Beth specifically has asked for clarification of what my understanding of "worship" is. And she's right to ask because our respective understandings of what constitutes worship are informed by our different faith traditions.

Beth describes her understanding of worship thus: "...worship isn't about us...at all - it's only about giving thanks and praise to Him. It is due Him simply because of who He is. It is not about receiving anything other than being received into His presence."

In this model of worship (as I understand it) the purpose of worship is for the worshipper to bring praise and thanksgiving to God for who He is. A Lutheran would whole-heartedly agree that our God is worthy of honour and praise and that in all places and at all times it is appropriate to do so. Where we differ is that a Lutheran understands the worship service itself not primarily as a vehicle for us to give (our praise and worship) but as a vehicle for us to receive (God's gifts of forgiveness and salvation, by way of Word and Sacrament).

Here is how our hymnal Lutheran Worship describes it:
"Our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows what it says. Faith that is born from what is heard acknowledges the gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise. ...Saying back to Him what He has said to us, we repeat what is most true and sure. ...The rhythm of our worship is from Him to us, and then from us back to Him. He gives His gifts, and together we receive and extol them. We build one another up as we speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs."

The reason for this kind of an understanding is simple. We believe and teach that in establishing a faith relationship with the Father, God always acts first. Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

In fact we deny that man, spiritually dead in His trespasses, even has the capacity to choose Christ, apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. This is important here - it's kind of the key to understanding all of Lutheran theology. We believe and teach that:

--> We are saved by grace (alone)

-->and we receive grace through faith (in Christ alone)

-->and that faith, which receives saving grace, is not of ourselves, but is itself a gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

In a nutshell, God does it all. It's not surprising then, that our worship practises should reflect that understanding. Historically, the phrase used to describe Lutheran worship is "Divine Service". This helps us understand the rhythm of worship—that it is first and foremost God serving us with His gifts, and then our service to Almighty God in thanksgiving and praise for all He has done.T his rhythm of God giving His gifts and our giving Him thanks is conveyed aptly in the term, Divine Service.

This pattern of worship is not new, nor is it unique. The early Christians used this pattern as well: Acts 2:42 42 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine (the Word of the Lord) and fellowship, in the breaking of bread (the Sacrament), and in prayers."

I need to clarify a couple of other things as well to address Sara's comments:

It should be noted that Lutheran churches have a adopted a wide variety of worship styles - some are quite contemporary, others are traditional. In Nicaraugua they worship under wooden pavillions, singing hymns accompanied by a guitar. In Nigeria they worship in the open air and their worship music has a distinct African flavour.

This is from the LCMS website: "The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod believes that God's Word never changes, and that the church has no right to change anything clearly taught in or commanded by God's Word. At the same time, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod believes that the church has no right to make absolute commands that are not contained in Scripture. Where Scripture does not clearly speak, there must be freedom and room for change. Other issues, of course (such as varying sensitivities to change within the congregation, appropriate decorum in worship, the desire to avoid either giving or taking offense unnecessarily) must always be taken into account when a congregation is considering changes that are in the realm of Christian freedom. Since the Bible says nothing about "ushers" (as an example), the LCMS has never made any rules or requirements in this regard. Many congregational traditions have changed in the LCMS over the years for various reasons (such as women sitting on one side of the church and men on the other), but the LCMS is absolutely committed to changing nothing that is clearly taught in God's Word."

Me now: I'm not opposed to allowing contemporary worship, nor do I consider it less "valid" than other forms. I do question the wisdom of offering multiple worship styles in a single church if it's done in an attempt to cater to spiritual immaturity. I'll give you an example: my in-laws attend a church that has a "worship cafe". It's a VERY informal worship service that includes coffee and round-table discussions. My in-laws don't attend that venue themselves, but they speak enthusiastically about it: "it really brings in the twenty-somethings!" I personally think it's unfortunate that the twenty-somethings don't have the spiritual depth to be able to receive God's gifts and give him praise unless their surroundings are tailored exactly to their liking. I may have a preference for a traditional worship style, but that doesn't mean that I can't worship outside of those circumstances. Like the author, I think that offering cafeteria-style worship services actually stunts our spiritual growth because it encourages us to fulfill our own desires first.

I know this is a touchy area. The "worship wars" have raged long before I decided to step in to the fray and have been argued eloquently - on both sides - by minds much greater than my own. But for what it's worth, the objections I have are held out of love and concern for my Brother. Above all, I long for the the day when we will worship as one - Pentecostal beside Lutheran! - before the throne of the Lord.

iPhone schm-iPhone

The reviews of Apple's newest gadget are starting to come in and they're not great. That won't matter a bit. This is the newest "must-have" status symbol and people will line up for days to get their hands on one, despite the $500+ price tag. Because, of course, anybody who's anybody will have one.

Here in Waterloo, home of the Blackberry, the iPhone debut is mostly being ignored. Disdained even. Apple making a smartphone? Please. The consensus is, when people discover the drawbacks of using their iPhone they'll quietly put it away and return to using their Blackberries. Until the next new thing comes along.

It's rampant consumerism and it makes my teeth rattle. Thank goodness Christians aren't like that, right? Not so fast.

Here's an interesting article that examines the influence that consumerism has had on Western Christianity and the danger it poses to the message of the Gospel. It's a bit long, but an interesting read.

I'd never thought before how consumerism may or may not have shaped the church. We're called to be in the world but not of the world, yet it's sometimes hard to not be influenced by the secular worldview that we are exposed to every day. In some cases, the secular worldview is so pervasive we're not even aware of it's incompatibilty with Christianity, especially if it has also entered the church.

We used to go to a Lutheran church just down the street from where we live. This church has embraced a "contemporary" style of worship services. While we attended there, I didn't mind it so much, but we ended up leaving the church because we found that on the whole it was shallow. (Please don't misunderstand me, I love my brothers and sisters at Messiah and it was not a bitter parting.)

We now attend a church all the way across town where the congregation is quite orthodox. The services are wholly liturgical, the music is traditional...and the members are more spiritually mature. No one ever complains that the music "isn't relevant". They understand that worship is not about getting their needs and desires met. It's about receiving God's gifts, and having received them we are empowered to go back out into the world to serve Him.

Like the iPhone, we tried contemporary and it just had too many drawbacks. We're going to stick with traditional.

Silent supper

My dinner was so delicious I have to tell you all about it.

Grilled lemon pepper catfish with mango salsa on rice with mesclun greens. It was so yummy. I wish I had taken a picture of it, it was so pretty with the mangoes. You would have liked it too, I'm sure.

It was just my husband and I for supper tonight. I can't remember the last time it was just the two of us alone for dinner. At home I mean.

It was pretty quiet at the table. Mid-way through dinner my husband spoke up in the silence, "This is nice, isn't it?"

"Yes," I agreed halfheartedly. "Peaceful."

"You miss them don't you?" My husband had this sympathetic look on his face.

"Well, maybe a little," I allowed and put a big forkful of rice into my mouth so I didn't have to speak for a bit.

I guess I just wished I had someone else to share my yummy supper with...

This is me, trying to act like I don't care

Next week I will be practically kid-less!! Woo hoo!

Alli leaves for Ottawa tomorrow morning and Brent is going to a friend's cottage Tuesday afternoon. That just leaves Kirk, who is often at work anyways.

I always miss them like the dickens when they are gone, but I am looking forward to getting into their bedrooms to do a really good cleaning in there. (Yeah, for real. And if you don't understand that impulse, clearly you do not have teenagers living in your home.)

It'll be nice for Ken and I to get some extended one-on-one time.

Plus, you know, we can neck on the couch without having to hear "Get a room!". Heh heh...

I have this CRAZY idea

I've been thinking about this for quite some time now, but I haven't been sure how to broach the subject...so, I'm just gonna put this out there and see what you guys think...


What would you think...

...about having some kind of get-together?





I mean a face-to-face get-together somewhere sorta central that we could all meet IRL.


What would you think of that?


At this point, this is no more than a fond wish of mine. I have no idea if there would be any interest beyond my own and whether it would even be a realistic possibility. I imagine we'd have to plan pretty far in advance to pull something like this off. But would you?


I'm just thinking about it...but if you think you might, at some point in the future be interested in doing something like that, let me know, 'kay?

avandenberg8
(at)
netscape
(d0t)
net

How do you pray?

I was wondering, when you pray, do you have a "formula" that you follow each time, or is it more of a free-flow sort of thing?

When I pray in the morning, I begin with Luther's Morning Prayer. (I didn't always start with this, I only just learned it by heart a few years ago.) Then I pray over the concerns of the coming day - but I must admit, I do so quickly. Morning prayer is not a well-formed habit for me yet.

Throughout the day I stop and say little mini-prayers as a prayer need comes to my attention. For example, if I read in your blog that you have a prayer need, I stop and pray right then and there. Or if I hear a fire truck go by, I'll say a quick little prayer for all involved. That kind of thing. On-the-fly intercessory prayer is a better habit in me. Oh, and prayer before meals is an ingrained habit.

My evening prayers...well, to begin with, I have been saying the same prayer, Luther's Evening Prayer, each night for almost 30 years now! (Do you think God is tired of hearing it? Just kidding...) I learned that prayer when I was in Grade 7. I pray at night either kneeling before my bed, or sometimes I get right in bed. Luther's Evening Prayer, then I pray the Creed, then the Lord's Prayer. Every night. Then I pray about what is on my heart - mostly I pray for others and for my kids. I pray for the three children that I am god-mother to. For our World Vision child. Those things I pray for most nights, sometimes one but not the other. It depends on what's on my heart most.
I am not very good about praying for myself, for my needs, be they spiritual or physical. It's usually the last thing that I pray, if at all. Sometimes I do pray for myself, but it is a real struggle for me. It is, I know, connected to my pride. I'm not trying to excuse this - just stating a fact. Again, it's something that I am working on. I've probably prayed for my own needs more in the last year than I ever have and that is in no small part due to the fact that I'm blogging. Every day I am blessed to have you all as models for me, reminding me by your example that I ought to bring all my cares to Him.

So then, how do you pray?

Dolly

This is my Allison. She is 14 today.

This is a hard age. We - she as well as her mom and dad - are navigating it as best we can. She is caught somewhere between childhood and young womanhood. Old enough to be "developing"; young enough to still want to hold my hand when we walk. She is, I know, more naive than many of the other kids her age. For good or for ill, we've sheltered our kids, and especially our daughter. We've tried to protect them from growing up too fast. She is still so innocent in many ways.

Sometimes I am struck by the contrast in her behaviour - one minute she is skipping unselfconsciously as we walk from the car to the mall, and the next minute she is dragging me into Old Navy and trying to sweet-talk me into buying her a spaghetti strap tank. (NO.)

She has a quick wit and sometimes in good fun she will zing me, just come back with something snappy and intelligent and grown-up; yet on the other hand, she doesn't know the meaning of many of the "grown-up" words that other kids her age use so easily (vulgar slang expressions, for example). She didn't know what "gay" meant until about a year ago, and she's still perplexed by the whole concept.

When she was little I had two nicknames for her: "Lamby" and "Dolly". I still call her Lamby, but I don't call her Dolly much any more. I think of it as her baby-nickname. But her uncle, my brother Steve, still calls her Dolly and when I hear him call her that it just pierces my heart. Where did my Dolly go? How did she grow up so fast? Each year seems to slip away a little faster and I wish she would stay little for just a bit longer. Be my Dolly again.

That's not the way it works. All I can do is try my best to guide this child-woman, who is more precious to me than she knows, towards adulthood. I am thankful that she is in the Lord's hand. I pray for her - for all my kids - to remain in Christ; that they would grow into faithful servants; that they would meet and marry Christian spouses one day; that they will raise their own children in the Lord. And I thank God for them all, today especially for my Alli.

Summer Reading Contest: And the winner is...

Beth.

Because she bribed me.

KIDDING!!!

I chose Beth for a number of reasons:

• First, I was impressed by how much effort she put into her entry.
• Plus, I've noticed that she tirelessly enters every contest she comes across and sooner or later ya gotta win something, right?
• Plus, her Vikings are just so darned cute!

Hey, I told you my judging criteria would be totally subjective.

Actually, it was way harder than I thought to pick a winner. Everybody's entry, in one way or another, appealed to me.

Anyways, Congratulations Beth - I'll be emailing you your prize shortly. And thanks to everybody for some great summer reading suggestions!

How I got to be a computer geek

Have you ever wondered how I spend my day? (C'mon, humour me, okay?)

Yesterday I spent a fair bit of time tracking down a SCSI cable that would connect a RAID controller with a VHDCI adapter to a tape drive with an HD-68 adapter. Then I set up email accounts on the vmail server for a new client and had the ISP change their MX records so they would point to the Postini servers. I also had to help a client who was having a networking issue. I wasn't able to resolve the underlying issue for her so I dispatched a technician to go on site, but I did manage to find a workaround for her until he got there. I ordered some software license renewals for clients with soon-to-expire software licenses, sourced a production-grade wireless thin-client with a built in touch-screen monitor, and made some updates to the company website.

Got all that? Yeah, I know. I am SUCH a geek.

Now, understand here that I DO NOT have a technical background. My background is actually in marketing and administration for the food service industry. I’m not at all a “left-brain” kind of person and if you had told me 5 years ago that I would be working for a computer services company and that all those techno-acronyms would actually MAKE SENSE to me, I would have laughed myself silly. But here I am anyways.

When I found this job, I wasn't working and I wasn't looking for work. I was actually helping a friend look for a job. We were doing an online job search and I came across a posting for the position that I now hold. They were looking for administrative and marketing support for a small computer services company. And when I read it, I thought to myself "I bet I could do that job". On a whim, I emailed my resume and to my surprise, I got a phone call about 20 minutes later. Would I be interested in coming in for an interview?

Well, like I said, I wasn't looking for a job, but with the kids away at school all day there was nothing keeping me from finding something to do outside the house, and I figured what the heck, it can't hurt to talk to them. I figured I could always say no and to be honest, I didn’t think they’d be interested in me and my “right-brain” skills.

But as it turned out, God had other plans. After talking to my (now) boss, we both realized that what he was looking for vs. my skill set were a perfect match. From a lifestyle perspective, it was perfect as well. I didn't want to work full-time and he was looking for someone to work half days. It was close to home, I didn't have to start until after the kids went to school and I would be back in the afternoon long before they got home again. Kids home sick? No problem, I could work from home those days. And on and on. My husband and I prayed about it, but to be honest, it didn't take much convincing that this was where God wanted me to serve him. That conviction has been confirmed for me over and over again since I have worked here. It’s a very family-friendly place to work, and I have the best boss in the world! And though I was hired to do marketing and admin, my role has expanded and I now handle some technical tasks as well. I have learned so much and to my surprise, I find it interesting and fulfilling work.

I can't explain why God thought it would be a good idea for me to work here. A couple of years before this all transpired, I'd had a “good idea” of my own: I had been actively pursuing full time church work. I thought that God was calling me to it and even though that door was repeatedly and very firmly closed to me, I fought against it and sought to find a way around. I was CONVINCED, despite all the signs to the contrary, that this was His will for me. When it (finally) became apparent to me that God was NOT in fact calling me to work in his church I became quite despondent. I was so hurt and confused. I had thought - really, really believed - that He had been calling me to be a servant of the church, and when it turned out that belief had been wrong...well, it really put me into a tailspin. How would I ever, going forward, be able to discern His will for me - and be confident that I had discerned it accurately? Clearly, I had been horribly wrong here and what assurance did I have that I wouldn't make another mistake like that again? None, I concluded, because obviously I couldn’t tell where my own will ended and God’s began.

That was a really hard time for me. I could not get over the feeling that I had lost something precious and I struggled with it for a long time. I struggled with a lot of feelings actually – most of all a deep, aching hurt. Why didn’t God want me? What was wrong with me that He didn’t want me “on his team”? (Looking back, I am embarrassed at such selfish immaturity, but that was how I felt.)

But this is how God showed His grace and mercy to me: He picked a job in an industry that was least likely to be attractive to me, and DROPPED IT in my lap. He did it in such a way that I had no doubt whatsoever that He orchestrated the whole thing. And he said unequivocally to me, "THIS is where I want you to serve me." I didn't understand why he wanted me here specifically - I still don't - but it is unquestionably His will for me. He didn’t have to do that. After all, I was the one sulking like a child who didn’t get her own way. He could have let me stew. But instead He graciously showed me that I don’t have to fret over discerning His will for me – if I stop struggling against Him, He will simply make it known. I now have a real sense of peace that comes from knowing I am exactly where He wants me to be, and that is such a gift.

I must admit, that I have not lost my desire to be a servant of the church. In fact, it is a fond desire. But I think now that if it is a holy desire then one day He will fulfill it, according to His purpose. Until then or until He calls me to something else, I am content to serve Him where I am.

In Geekdom.

Sadly, there will be no garden this year

I'm sorry Sara. I know you were looking forward to hearing about what I have growing in my garden this year. At the moment, there is nothing more than weeds. (Big ones, too.) But I have no plans to put in any vegetables this year. I didn't feel up to the work involved, at least not at this time.

I have been out enjoying this glorious weather we are having though! We got the pool up early this year and I've been spending much time out there. "The pool" is not at all as grand as it sounds...it is one of those blue ones that you have to take down each year - but it does the trick when it's hot!

Anyways, that's where I've been the last couple of days - working on my tan, lol!

They're so goofy, don't you think?

I found another contest! Actually, Beth found it, and I am copying her. Karen at Write From Karen is having a funny photo contest. Beth's picture of Pojke is SO FUNNY! I love it! Personally, I hope she wins. Anyways, about the contest...find a funny picture and post it to your blog, then go here and put the exact link into the mr. linky gadget. Check out the prize possibilities - any BusyBodies product ($20.00 max) OR a $20.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com. Good stuff!

Like Beth, I think my children are fodder for amusement. I don't know if other people will think they are funny or not, but they make me laugh. Here are the boys doing their best Pirates of the Carribean imitation at Disney World.

And, may I just take this opportunity to plug my own contest (shameless, I know) which is running until June 15th. Although, the prize now seems paltry against Karen's choices, but on the other hand I can probably be bribed. Just, you know, sayin'...

Summer Reading Contest!

Hey ho everybody, I'm having a contest! This is not a ploy to increase traffic to my blog, *wink*! It just so happens that I have an online gift certificate for Amazon.com that is only good for the U.S. site and since I can't use it on the Canadian site, I thought I would give it to one of my bloggin' buddies in the U.S. The problem is, how do I choose who to give it to?? To solve that condondrum I have decided to have a little contest to give away the gift certificate.

To enter, tell me what your favourite book of all time is, and why. Post it to your blog and link back to this blog entry. It doesn't have to be long - this is just a $10 certificate, folks! And please leave me a note in the comments here so I know that you have entered. I'll leave the contest open until say...June 15th, and then our panel of judges (me, myself and I) will pick our favourite entry based on specific (totally subjective) criteria. And I'm such a good sport that if the winning entry comes from somewhere outside the U.S., I'll find a suitable replacement prize for the winner (like a certificate that they can use) and award the U.S. gift certificate as a second place prize to another entry.

So get your entries in and don't forget to tell your friends to enter as well. Because this is so not about increasing traffic to my blog. Heh heh...

Trinity Sunday

Each Sunday in the Divine Service we make confession of our common faith in the words of either the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed. Once a year, on Trinity Sunday, we say the Athanasian Creed. If you are not familiar with this one, you may read it here. It's a long one, so I'm not typing it out. It is used on Trinity Sunday because it is a really good summary of the Trinity as we understand it from the Scriptures.

The Psalm for the day is Psalm 150. I love this Psalm - so full of joy!

Praise the LORD!Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD!

Happy Anniversary Mirko and Elke

Good friends of ours from church are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary tomorrow. I am so glad that we have gotten to know them; they have been a real blessing to us. I am "godmother" to their youngest child, Katja.

(Here she is - this was taken last year at Easter. That is me holding her.)

More commenting = Less posting

The last couple of days I have been neglecting my own blog and hanging out at some other's blogs.

There are some lively discussions going on right now at Holly's blog, one about bare bellies and pregnancy, the other about the conflict between obeying God's law versus the laws of the land.

Then, Sara has a conversation going on about what constitutes true forgiveness. It's a multi-part post, so be sure to keep scrolling up.