"You Go, Pastor!"

Good Morning Loved Ones,

Welcome to the Lenten adventure. Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The Lenten season is a 40 day time of preparation, of evaluation, of allowing God's grace to find us in the most unlikely of places. Many people decide to give up things like chocolate and TV. But Isaiah is clear that what we decide to give up in our lives should be those things that lead us away from God's justice and that we should begin to adopt practices that lead us toward God's justice.

Isaiah 58:9-12 (The Message)

^9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

Quit blame and gossip. Restore, rebuild and renovate. Difficult practices in difficult times. But who doesn't want to be like a "well-watered garden?"

My Gimme Cinco:

1) Thank you, God, for 15 young men on a soccer team who graciously call me "Coach" and in so doing remind me of my responsibilities to them. I give thanks for their energy, joy and teamwork.

2) Thank you, God, for the opportunities you give us at Grandview Park to "restore the old ruins" of neighborhood, community and church. Thank you for the assurance you give us that we can be called "those who can fix anything."

3) Thank you, God, that in the emptiest of places and times you give us resources to share with the spiritually and physically hungry and hope and joy to share with the down-and-out.

4) Thank you, God, for the words of scripture that you have given that feed us and sustain us in the desert and wilderness places.

5) Thank you, God, for my new friend, Thomas, a young man at the YMCA who, during the excruciating pain of my abdominal workout on Monday, several times gave me the admonition, "You go, Pastor!" I give thanks for the community of folks who do the same with Pastor Alfonso and myself on Sundays and throughout the week. It is a privilege and a blessing to have been called "Pastor" and we need you to remind us of our call and to encourage us to go forward. I give thanks for those who make a point of doing so.

So, let's make the community livable again. Let's glow in the darkness and bathe in the light!

There is no fasting from gratitude. Your gratitude is "like a gurgling spring that never runs dry."

Gimme Cinco!

Pastor Rick

In Pure Grace

Good morning Loved Ones! (get used to it!)

I know I've been a little wordy lately. Today I will try and express my gratitude a bit more succinctly.

Our scripture:

Romans 12:3 (The Message)

³I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

God has brought so much to me. Today I give thanks for the my co-workers (the staff at the church).

1) I give thanks to God for Bump Haynes who through many trials and difficulties has remained strong in his faith and continues to do work above and beyond the call in caring for God's house and offering leadership in worship.

2) I give thanks to God for Luis Ebenezer Seanz who has grown into our Music Man. I thank God that he has stayed the course with us through many changes and frustrations. His leadership is growing everyday.

3) I give thanks to God for Jennifer Spears who has received her props multiple times in these dames. Nonetheless, her continued commitment to our young people is inspiring.

4) I give thanks to God for Carmen Flores who is a faith-full and devoted administrative assistant and interpreter. Even when she is not feeling well she displays a positive attitude and shares her joy in all she does.

5) I give thanks to God for my friend, Pastor Alfonso Tot. He is indeed more than a co-pastor to me, he is a dear friend and I give thanks that God has brought us together over many miles and multiple barriers to be co-laborers and brothers.

There you go! I tried to keep it short, but you know how it is.

All day long I eagerly return to my e-mail to see what you have to say. I'm waiting!

In pure grace,

Pastor Rick

Live a Lovers's Life

Good Morning Loved Ones!

Interesting term, isn't it? Loved Ones? We use it typically to refer to our family. We say, "I'm going home to visit my loved ones," or something like that. But am I out of line to call you "Loved Ones"? You are loved by me and by other friends and family however imperfectly. But the truth is --- you have received perfect Love from the one who is Love (1 John 4:7 - God is Love). You are indeed Loved Ones! Since we have experienced this Love we are obligated to share it with others. Our Hump Day scripture today is:

Philippians 1:9 (The Message)
So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

With this call to love in mind and the knowledge that we are Loved Ones, let's give thanks.

1) I thank God for the gift of Love called Patience. I thank God for the many people who have been patient with me. I thank God especially for parents who are lovingly patient with their children and not quick to anger. I thank God for good teachers who patiently draw out the gifts of their students. I thank God for brothers and sisters in the church who are willing to wait with and for each other.

2) I thank God for the gift of Love called Honesty. I thank God for my friends who have been willing to tell me the truth in love. I thank God for the trust that comes in relationships when we can be honest without being hurtful.

3) I thank God for the gift of Love called Respect. I thank God for people who are able to show respect and honor to others. I thank God for the incredible blessing that can come from giving people respect and honor.

4) I thank God for the gift of Love called Trust. I thank God that there are so many people in my life that I trust. This is shear gift. I thank God for people who are willing to trust even total strangers. I pray that everyday my ability to trust others will increase.

5) I thank God for the gift of Love called Jesus. I thank God that all the qualities of Love can be found in the life and teachings of Jesus. I thank God that I have been found by him and that his Love lives on no matter what happens. Thank you God for showing us your Love in a Person, a Stranger, in One who lived a Lover's life, Jesus of Nazareth.

We are called to love extravagantly. This is what Dame Cinco is all about -- expressing our love through gratitude.

So let's hear it!

For this week my call is "Gimme some love!"

Pastor Rick

Happiness Up 25%

Good Grateful Morning!

Believe it or not, today is our 11th week of the Gimme/Dame 5.0 exchange. For ten weeks we have shared our gratitude with each other.

Back in December I told you about Dr. Robert Emmons' work studying the effect gratitude has on people. This morning I discovered that his research on gratitude began with a 10 week study in which people wrote down five things they were thankful for once a week. (Sound familiar?) A second group was asked to write down 5 hassles from the week. And a third group was asked to write down five things, good or bad without focusing on them. Here are Dr. Emmons conclusions after the 10 week experiment.

Happiness up 25%

"People who were in the gratitude condition felt fully 25% happier - they were more optimistic about the future, they felt better about their lives and they even did almost 1.5 hours more exercise a week than those in the hassles or events condition. All this from reflecting on the pleasure of having seen the sunset through the clouds? Dr Emmons also expresses surprise at the findings of the study, partly because there are some reasons practising gratitude might not be so good. For example, focussing on gratitude reminds us what we owe to others. This may in turn remind us of our dependence on others and reduce a sense of personal control. Thinking in terms of gratitude may also focus us on the debts we owe to others and, studies have shown, people don't enjoy feeling indebted to others."

So, for those of you who have been participating for 10 weeks in our Gimme 5.0 ---- Do you feel 25% happier? Are you more optimistic about the future? Have you been execising more?

Or better yet, are we realizing how indebted we are to the others in our lives? Pastor Terry grabbed hold of this the third week we shared. He noted,"By end of day, were it not for this discipline, I would literally ignore, not notice, bypass and forget key people who absolutely paved the way for the path(s) I took in that one day. And by morning, another list emerges: either STILL forgotten from the day prior or ALREADY standing on the road ahead of me, already creating the agenda, the opportunities, the food, the potential for me to move forward with expectancy in the coming hours."

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians expresses this as well. He says, "Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God." (Philippians 1:3)

So, who crosses your mind today? Who has crossed your path and given you reason to be thankful to God?

1) I give thanks for my dear, sweet, unstoppable wife, DeDe. She gives her love to me daily by sharing her life freely through stories of her day, delicious meals, warmth and affection. She never seems to stop giving to her sons, her patients and her brothers and sisters at Grandview Park. I shudder to think what my life would be like without her. Thank you, God, for bringing DeDe into my life.

2) I give thanks for my mother, Dolores. She continues to support and care for me through thick and thin. Thank you, God, for my mother.

3) I give thanks for my dad, Jerry. He became a father to me when my father died and he has always been there for me. Thank you, God, for my dad.

4) I give thanks for my mother-in-law, Martha. Though we clash sometimes, I have been blessed by her dedication to our children and the church. Thank you, God, for Martha.

5) I give thanks for my Grandpa and Grandma Behrens who gave me my first Bible lessons and showed me what a grateful, Christian life can look like. Thank you, God, for my grandparents.

I owe these people my life. (There are thousands more, by the way. You are probably one of them!) They have all paved the way for me. Who do you owe? Make a list and see if you don't feel at least ten percent happier. I feel better already. I think I'll go to the YMCA today!

Gratefully Yours,
Pastor Rick