Paul

Paul is frustrating me a lot recently. Have you ever read 1 and 2 Corinthians? I read through a chapter of the Bible every night before bed, and last night I read the last chapter in 2 Corinthians, and thus I have completed reading all the way through those two letters. Throughout both books, it seems to me as though Paul is very boastful and proud, stuck-up and pushing himself higher, and that confuses me. What about humility and placing others before yourself? What is Paul trying to say? I feel like I'm missing something, since it seems to be more letters praising himself than praising God or guiding the church.

Thanksgiving Chapel

In this season of Thanksgiving, it is easy to remember to be thankful for all we have. I could easily list off many things that I am thankful for: my parents, my brothers, my friends, my education; but I think that we need to take time to look deeper at this idea of thankfulness.

At large family gatherings on my mom's side, which always occur around Christmas, my uncle reminds us of the need to be thankful throughout the year, and has our family go around the table and say what we are thankful for in the past year. Even only a month after Thanksgiving, finding things to be thankful for seems out of the ordinary. Veggietales has an entire episode about thankfulness, "Madame Blueberry," and Junior Asparagus and his dad sing: "For a God who really cares, And He listens to our prayers, that's why we say thanks everyday!" It's important to be thankful every day, both during Thanksgiving and throughout the year.

Think with me for a second of three things you're thankful for. Your list is probably similar to your neighbor's or to mine: friends, family, school. What's missing? During the service on Thanksgiving Eve at my home church, our pastors ask the congregation what they're thankful for. Forcing us to step out of the stereotypical Norwegian Lutheran heritage that our church functions under, microphones are passed around the congregation and various people stand up and say what they're thankful for. Grandmothers are thankful for new grandchildren, men and women are thankful for their job or their spouse, and three-year-olds are thankful for their mommy and daddy, for ice cream, and for Santa Claus. Although our thanks is in the context of "I thank God for this", and thanks is always expressed for our church and our pastors, never do we hear anyone say "I am thankful for God" or "I thank God for His Grace, for salvation". The only mention of our thankfulness for God and His saving Grace is during the liturgy and prayers. Although I do believe that it is important to express our thanks to God through prayer, I also think that He should be among our list of things we are thankful for, first on that list even.

So both in this season of Thanksgiving and throughout the year, I urge you to take the time to thank God. Thank Him for your schooling, for your friends and family, but also thank Him for His Presence, thank God for God, thank God for Jesus.

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for all you have given us, for our families, our friends, and the opportunity we have to be here today. Lord, thank you also for Your presence, for your Grace and peace in our lives.In your name we pray, Amen.

Could this be what I'm searching for?

Windchimes

As I pass under the windchimes, I pause and take a breath.
The wind begins to stir, and I am soon immersed in a wave of melodies, a cacophony of sound,
and God is there.
He is in the sound,
He is in the wind,
He is in the chimes.
A calming peace washes over me as I stand there, centering my heart and mind in Him,
filling me with faith, with hope, with love.
With peace.
As I stand there, I pray. Everything is restored to order, everything has its place.
And I am immersed in His glory, overwhelmed by His presence.

As I begin to feel the chill of the night's air, the wind begins to settle.
The chimes turn to silence.
I regain my senses.
And as I step out from under the windchimes, all of life bombards me.
I try to carry the windchimes with me, to keep that peace inside of me,
but the peace remains in the windchimes, the glory belonging to God.