I was staring at a blank screen, not knowing what to write for this newsletter when my wife Sally handed me a Christmas letter. She said, “This will encourage you.” It was from BJ, a friend of more than 30 years and former church work colleague from St. Stephanus Lutheran in St. Paul. He taught my three daughters at Central Lutheran School. Together, we try fishing at least once a year and go birding in the Spring. He is a quiet man and we swap our Eeyore tales.
BJ worships at his church and he will periodically listen in online at Mount Olive. He collects tid-bits from my sermon over the year and then he compiles them in a Christmas letter for me. It is very honoring and humbling and greatly encouraging.
I am surprised that I remember each one of the sentences or paragraphs he pulls up. My sermons are always from the heart and before the words come out of my mouth, they have been discovered in the text and prayerfully considered. Sermons are deeply personal and scriptural. Thank you for listening— I hope with a heart prepared, just as mine is prepared to deliver it. Speaking and hearing— a team endeavor between pastor and people. Glory to God.
He writes:
My two favorite lines, which you probably didn’t mean in a humorous way (actually I did) but made me chuckle anyway:
- “There’s one God, and you ain’t it.”
- “You don’t even own the bucket for your bucket list.”
Do you remember those lines?
Over the course of a year, your preacher/pastor/shepherd will speak to a lot of issues from God’s Word. The lessons chosen by the church year’s assignment will present a full, Christ-centered menu of God’s Word. You will be blessed as you listen. Come prepared. Come faithfully.
And thanks for listening. It is encouraging to me and to you and to us all.
- Pastor Jim
(Newsletter article from Pastor Jim continues in our monthly newsletter)
