Been to Hell and Back... well to my class on Hell and back home that is...

Well this past Friday & Saturday was our class out at Hastings College (put on by Cotner College) on the 'History of Hell'.  The class was taught by Dan Deffenbaugh a professor of New Testament Theology at Hastings College.  This is the second class I've taken from Dan and he is a genuinely wonderful teacher.  One of the main things that hopefully all the class attendees went away with was the stunning transformation of Judaism during the period of the Babylonian Exile.  Specifically how both the concept of Satan and Hell entered into their religion.

A gross oversimplification would be the observation that prior to the Exile there was no concept of either Heaven or Hell only the idea of 'Sheol' which was a neutral realm of the dead.  In Sheol the good and the bad languished together not in torment nor in any blissful state as we tend to associate with Heaven.  In addition 'Satan' was merely another angel who fulfilled the role of accuser or messenger.  After the Exile we see 'Satan' fashioned more along the lines of the Zoroastrian god 'Angra Mangu' or 'Darkness'.  These changes were both the result of the need to modify their theology to explain how bad things happened to good people (Nations) and also why good things happen to bad people (Nations).  The Zoroastrian concept of resurrection also crept into the Hebrew religion at this time.

At any rate there is no way that I have enough time to blog adequately on these topics.  I would suggest that anyone interested in learning more read the book 'The History of Hell' by Alice Turner, or even in more depth and scholarly the book "The Formation of Hell" by Alan Bernstein.  I would also suggest Elaine Pagels book "The Origin of Satan" and the book "A History of the Devil" by Gerald Messadie.

We're looking at getting some potentially severe weather here tonight so we are watching the news closely.  The sky is looking pretty funky out there tonight with some odd clouds and already some tornadoes sighted further west of us but tracking straight for us.  Hopefully it will move by us without any incident.

Clouds over Omaha 5/11/14 around 5:30 pm  Photo taken by Sue Carson Moore of Omaha

Since I'm now done with classes that have required reading I dug out some books that I wanted to read yesterday evening.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate two books that I specifically wanted to read after taking our class on Hell.  The one I may have loaned out. I don't think so but I have loaned it out before but I know it came back after that.  The other I know I have not loaned out and I really want to read it, I suspect I have filed it in an odd location since it isn't a book that fits into any normal theological definition.  One of the problems with having so many books is I can go a bit crazy from time to time trying to find a specific book.  I'll locate them sooner or later, like I said I know the one is here someplace for certain.

The books I pulled out to read right now are one by Elaine Pagels entitled 'The Gnostic Paul' I purchased another one of her books recently and I have read a tiny bit of it already (I have it on my desk at work to read when time allows) that book is titled 'Beyond Belief, the Secret Gospel of Thomas'.  But today I've spent most of my time reading a book I purchased recently for the Kindle 'The Experience of God, Being, Consciousness, Bliss' by David Bentley Hart.  So far I have really enjoyed the book but much of it has been spent pointing out the faulty logic and errors of atheism.  This is a good book to read on the Kindle because the author has a penchant for unusual words.  He obviously has a extremely broad vocabulary and he relishes sharing it with his readers.

As I've been reading I've let a playlist of Melody Gardot's songs play from Youtube on my computer.  I love her voice so much and her song "Baby I'm a Fool" is I think my favorite song of all right now.

On Friday night after class I did some reading before going to bed and was listening to a playlist of 'Dido' on Youtube.  She is also a wonderful artist and I love her voice as well.

Well folks the weather is getting pretty spooky out there so with that I'm going to cut this blog entry off and get ready to take shelter in the cubby hole in the basement.

God's great and abundant Blessing to you all!!

Roy

Update:  The tornado has passed us, pretty strong winds at times but so far I don't know if we had any damage.  Still raining very hard here so unless it suddenly let's up I'll just wait for morning to go out and check things.  

Prairie Pastors Conference

This past week I attended the annual 'Prairie Pastors Conference' in Bellevue.  The conference ran from Monday afternoon until late Wednesday morning.  The guest speaker/instructor was David Finch who along with Geoff Holsclaw wrote the book 'Prodigal Christianity'.  David's presentation revolved for the most part around the book and was an interesting presentation.

I do agree with him entirely that the future of Christianity calls for us to 'go out' and be among the people.  Today though I really need to spend my time preparing for the class this weekend out in Hastings "The History of Hell".  I am very much looking forward to this class but there is a fair amount of reading that I need to accomplish yet.  So, that being what it is I will return next week and blog in depth about the Conference and the Class.

Proof that I was at the Conference.  You can see me in on the right side the second fellow in,
Ron French of course is the first soul from the right.  God Bless!

Let me just leave you for this week with this prayer, which seems very fitting coming away from a Conference for Pastors.


God's Workman
Lord God, who hast placed me in thy Church as a pastor, thou seest how unfit I am to fulfil this great and responsible office.  Were it not for thy counsel I would long ago utterly have failed.  Therefore do I call upon thee for guidance.  Gladly will I give my heart and voice to thy service.  I want to teach, and I long to be taught continually through thy Word.  Use me as thy workman, O Lord.  Only do not thou forsake me; for if I were alone, I would bring everything to naught.

Martin Luther

May this week find you all deeply and richly blessed by our provider God.

In His Continuing and Unending Love & Grace,
Roy

Easter

Well I pray that you all had a wonderful and restful Easter Sunday.  Our family attended the 8:30 am service at Benson Baptist for Easter Worship.  It was a full house with a mix of the normal early service folks, some of the second service folks and no small number of the folks that only seem to be able to make it to church for Christmas and Easter.  Pastor Paul and his staff put together a great worship time and the choir did a wonderful job with their portion.  It's sad that these days one rarely sees a full choir perform for a worship service.

I still haven't gotten Maddie to get the video for my Palm Sunday Sermon online for me, though she apparently found out what was going on and loaded an app on her phone and computer.  She was in the process of uploading from her phone yesterday but never got to the point where she was ready to put the video on youtube for me.  Hopefully, she'll get it up for me next weekend when she's home again.  If not I'm going to have to breakdown and buy an actual video camcorder so I don't have to rely on her phone.

The Maundy Thursday Service at Judson went very well and was a nice little service.  Not a big crowd but it's a very small church and there is a limited number of folks that come to Maundy Thursday Services anyway, but the church has always had a service for Holy Thursday and we kept that tradition alive for them.  Gail recorded the service on her phone but it's too long to put up, I can't believe anyone but me would commit the time to watch it all again.  We recorded it strictly for my own use in reviewing and correcting anything that needs to be corrected in future services.  I haven't tried taking it off of Gail's phone actually since it's the exact same phone as Maddie's I'm sure I'll run into the same conflicts, sometimes I don't think it's worth updating your technology.

On Friday night several of the men from Sunset Hills Baptist met me at Mary Alice's (Gail's mother) house and helped me clean up her yard.  She has some enormous trees and we pulled 43 lawn bags of leaves and 8 trash cans of branches out of her small back yard.  The front yard had already been cleaned up for spring.  There is likely another 2 or 3 bags worth of leaves back there but we ran out of bags and it was getting dark as well.  My mentor Bob Molby was one of the men and we visited for a while after the rest of the men had left.  I loaned Bob a couple of books when we had lunch a couple weeks back and he returned them to me already.  Bob preached at Judson Baptist yesterday and I haven't heard how it went but Bob has so many years in the pulpit that there is no way he can give anything but a great sermon.

Maddie's car broke down on her Friday night as she was running an errand and we had to have it towed to the shop.  I'll be waiting today to hear just what is the matter with it, not exactly what I needed right now as her last installment of tuition is due this week as well.  Going to be an expensive week.  Oh well, the Lord will provide I'm certain of that.

My preaching engagement for May has been canceled as the Pastor of the Church where I was to preach has had a change in their travel plans and will be in town that weekend after all.  I continue to pray and anticipate more chances to preach and spread the good news of God's abundant love and endless grace.  I shall continue to wait in anticipation as to where this path He has placed me on will ultimately lead.

May you all be richly blessed and find comfort in the Lord for whatever trials may come your way this week.

In God's Grace & Peace,
Roy

Palm Sunday with Judson Baptist

This morning Gail, Maddie and I attended worship services at Judson Baptist Church in La Vista.  I had been invited to do pulpit supply for them on this Palm Sunday.  It was a great worship service, in spite of the fact that due to the weather their organist was stuck in Lincoln.  We went without an accompanist for the hymns and it went just fine.  My sermon was entitled "His Will" and it seemed to be very well received by the congregation, with a great many of them commenting on how much they enjoyed it or needed to hear that message.

There was cake and refreshments after the service and then we went along with approximately twelve of the church members and had lunch at the Pizza Ranch.  I'd never been to the Pizza Ranch but it was very good, and I'll have to remember it when I next need a 'cheat meal'.

Gail and I will be going back to Judson this coming Thursday night to conduct a Maundy Thursday Service for them.  They are currently without a Pastor, and so I am filling in for these two events for them and then my friend and mentor Bob Molby will be conducting the Easter Sunday Service for them.

We truly enjoyed our visit with the folks at Judson, they are a very friendly and laid back congregation, and are very open and welcoming to visitors.  I'm very much looking forward to seeing them all again Thursday night and I think we have a good program set up for them.

Maddie did record a video of the service but for some reason it's giving her fits trying to upload it to youtube or photobucket.  I'm not sure what the issue is but I'll keep fussing with it and sooner or later I'll get it up for you all to view.

Yesterday April 12th was as always the toughest day of the year for Gail and I.  April 12th was the day that our second child Wyatt Christian Karlen was born into heaven.  It's hard to believe that it's been 21 years now since we lost that little one, but the pain is still there.  When we lost our little boy we immediately decided that we did not want to have him buried in case we ended up in another part of the world, and he would be left behind here in Omaha.  So we had his little body cremated and since there were no urns that were available suitable for a baby we went to a silversmith and had a silver piggy bank modified to become an urn.  This little bank has several teddy bears on the top of it and so we started the tradition of purchasing a small crystal or pewter teddy bear for Wyatt each year.  

Our agreement is that Wyatt will be buried with which ever one of us passes first.  But I can tell you that if I survive my lovely wife, I will continue to purchase these little bears up until the day I too pass.  I honestly think Gail will likely do the same, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if that once we're both gone Maddie will continue to collect bears for her big brother.  She has always been very keen on being involved in selecting these birthday gifts and I know the ritual is very important to her as well.

It's late and I need to get some rest so with that I'll post again come Thursday or Friday, until then...

God's Blessing & Grace to you all

Roy

More Preaching Engagements

Well as of now I am not only preaching at Judson Baptist on Palm Sunday but I am now going to serve at their Maundy Thursday Service.  I found an outline for a nice service on 'Fat Pastor' which I am in the process of modifying for their use.  I'm excited to do this service since I've obviously never done a Maundy Thursday Service.  It's a brand new experience and I'm very much looking forward to it.

In addition to serving at Judson Baptist I will also be preaching on May 4th down in Louisville at the First Christian Church there.  This is a Disciples of Christ Church and is the congregation that my friend Chuck Snow from ELM belongs to.  Their Pastor has recently stepped down so please keep them in your prayers as they begin the process of looking for an Interim and going about a call process.

I took Maddie back to UNL last night, she had been home for a week as it was their Spring Break.  As always now the house feels so much emptier with her gone.  She has been really mulling over what she wants to do next year and she had been planning to transfer to UNO, but has just recently decided she wants to just take some classes at Metro Tech next year and try and figure out just what she wants to do for a career.  Much to her credit she doesn't want to spend a bunch of money and then come to the realization that she isn't in the proper field of study for what she really wants to do in life.

We went to 'Half Price Books' yesterday and she got a book on various career paths.  She immediately started reading through it when we got home and she said she was going to look at it some more last night after I dropped her off in Lincoln.  Of course while we were at 'Half Price Books' Gail and I also had to purchase some new books.  Gail picked up several books on sewing and I found a copy of the Jerusalem Bible (which is a translation I didn't have) and a book on 'Near Death Experiences'.  The book on NDE presents a case for the afterlife and is written by a secular scientist so I thought that could be interesting to read.

On Saturday Gail put up a booth at a new Artisan and Handcrafted show here in Omaha.  She did pretty well with her bags, sold several and had a great number of folks pickup business cards from her.  She's had several folks approach her about setting up her booth at other shows that are upcoming so she's very excited about that.  She has created a unique design for her bags which allows them to carry a good deal and still not be bulky.  They also are perfect for carrying files, magazines, books, laptops, Kindles, Ipads, and they have a special pocket for your phone as well.

I'll close this short update with this Communion Prayer from the Didache.

May you all be filled with joy and blessings on this beautiful day.

In Christ,
Roy

Didache 10:2
We give Thee thanks, Holy Father,
for Thy holy name,
which Thou hast made to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality,
which Thou hast made known unto us
through Thy Son Jesus;
Thine is the glory for ever and ever.

Didache 10:3
Thou, Almighty Master,
didst create all things for Thy name's sake,
and didst give food and drink unto men for enjoyment, that they might render thanks to Thee;
but didst bestow upon us spiritual food and drink and eternal life through Thy Son.

Didache 10:4
Before all things we give Thee thanks
that Thou art powerful;
Thine is the glory for ever and ever.

Didache 10:5
Remember, Lord, Thy Church
to deliver it from all evil
and to perfect it in Thy love;
and gather it together from the four winds- even the Church which has been sanctified-
into Thy kingdom which Thou hast prepared for it; for Thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever.

Didache 10:6
May grace come and may this world pass away.
Hosanna to the God of David.
If any man is holy, let him come;
if any man is not, let him repent.
Maran Atha. Amen.

Upcoming Preaching Engagement and a Dead Computer

I'm sorry that I missed posting anything last week, my laptop computer had a sudden meltdown and is not yet repaired.  I took it to two shops in town and was told two different stories as to what was wrong with it.  One of my friends from the gym has agreed to take a look at it and see if he can't get it back up and running for me.  I haven't gotten it to him yet but hopefully I'll see him at the gym in the next day or two.  In the meanwhile I've dug out an old notebook and I'm using that for now.  It gets the job done but it's very slow and is prone to freezing while online.

Unfortunately, the ELM training session I was planning to attend in Hastings last weekend was canceled at the last moment.  They just did not get enough registrations to make the event viable.

This week I was asked to preach at Judson Baptist Church on Palm Sunday.  I was happy to accept the offer and I'm really looking forward to visiting Judson as it is an ABC Church here in Omaha that I haven't had the chance to attend yet.  I'm already working in my head on the sermon but I forgot to ask if they are having a 'Maundy Thursday' service or not.  Depending on whether they are or not will affect how far into the 'Last Week' of Christ life on earth I will go in the sermon.

Judson has a bit later service time than many other local churches with a start time of 10:45 am.  If anyone is interested in attending their address is, 8517 Park View Blvd, La Vista.  I understand that there will be cake and refreshments after the service so feel free to feel bribed to attend.

Yesterday morning we went to Benson Baptist for their 8:30 am service.  I was happy to see my friend Dr. Edsel Buchanan there with his daughter and her family.  Edsel is a retired professor of physical education and in his youth he was a very accomplished trampoline gymnast and a three time NCAA champion.  Today though Edsel suffers from Alzheimer's disease and I was very glad to see that he was his happy and cheerful self.  He recognized me immediately and I sat down and had a good visit with him prior to the start of the service.

This Wednesday I am having lunch with my friend and mentor Rev. Bob Molby.  I have a couple of books I want to lend to Bob and I also want to visit with him about the sermon I'm thinking of giving at Judson.  Bob has been out of town visiting family for a number of weeks and I'm looking forward to catching up with him and to see how he's been getting along.

Yesterday Pastor Paul used the Lord's Prayer as a major illustration in his sermon.  I hit him with the trivia question of where is the third source for the Lord's Prayer.  I apologize for catching him flat footed but he didn't have an answer for me, the answer is in the "Didache" (a/k/a The Teaching of the Twelve).  I'll close this blog post with the Lord's prayer translated from 8:2 in the Didache.  

May you all be well and blessed.

In God's Love, Glory and abounding Grace,
Roy



Didache 8:2
Neither pray ye as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel,thus pray ye:
Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so also on earth;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debt,
as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for Thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever.

Preparing for Classes and other Ramblings:

Well this Sunday we attended the 8:30 am service at Benson Baptist Church.  With the time change it was, as always, a bit more of a struggle to get everyone up and going and out the door.  But I was surprised and it looked like all of the regular attendees were there perhaps slightly less bright-eyed and somewhat less bushy tailed than normal but there none-the-less to celebrate God's love for us.

When we got back home Gail started right in on working on her 'bags' she has a show in a couple of weeks.  It's a show of local Artisans and their creations, and Gail has been working very hard to build up an inventory of her bags.  She really does a nice job with them and they are very functional.  The bags come in many different fabrics as well as various different accent pieces.

Maddie and I completed her FAFSA application and worked on her link on the University of Omaha web-site.  She has applied and been accepted to transfer to UNO next fall and she is very excited about that.  She's looking forward to being back home with us next year and maybe being able to have a part-time job again.  For her the whole being away from home in a big school just hasn't worked out as she had hoped.  I of course have no problem with my girl being back home for a few more years as the whole empty nest thing isn't to my liking anyway.

I started reading a new book yesterday, "Prodigal Christianity, Ten Signposts into the Missional Frontier" by David E. Fitch & Geoff Holsclaw.  This is the book that they will be talking about at the upcoming "Prairie Pastors Conference" (Prairie Pastors Conference Web-Page) but in reviewing it I thought it might also be beneficial for the program I am attending this coming weekend in Hastings put on by Cotner College.  This event is entitled "Ministry from the Pews" and I have decided to attend the session on "The Once & Future Church" being conducted by the Rev. Dr. James Gordon who is the current Interim Regional Ministry for the Disciples of Christ.

I've only just gotten into the book so I'll reserve comments for now but there is one chapter in particular that I am afraid I'm going to have considerable disagreement with.  The authors have a background in the 'Emergent' and 'Neo-Reformed' movements and I'll confess that I have some issues with both.  But in all fairness I will read the book and reserve all judgment until I have completely finished the text.  It is entirely possible that these authors have addressed areas that have concerned me and if so I very much look forward to reading and then listening to David Fitch speak at the conference.

Book 'Prodigal Christianity' on Amazon

I am very much looking forward to the program this weekend, and I also look forward to visiting with Jim about any opportunities that might be coming up for ministry with the DOC.  Jim is a fantastic individual and a very close friend of my good friend Dustin who is the Pastor at the DOC Church in Hastings.  Actually Dustin's Church is hosting this event and I told him I was going to bring him a large box of books for his personal library.

Misc. Ramblings:

The last couple weeks have been a bit wild.  I ran into a bit of an issue with my health which I think I have now gotten sorted out.  I noticed in the morning on the Thursday before last that I had broken out in a pretty good rash.  It was over my face, neck, shoulders and part of my chest and back.  So I dropped out pretty much all of my supplements and started taking Benadryl.  It slowly died down and I started adding back in my supplements slowly to see what had caused the reaction.  Well by the next Wednesday I had gotten about half of my supplement regiment back in force and nothing had caused an issue.  So I went into the gym and did my leg routine again.  When I got home and as I was changing I noticed that I had broken out once again.  Apparently, when I'm doing legs my blood pressure is spiking very high and I'm causing capillaries to burst.

I checked my blood pressure the next morning and it was at 142/85 which my wife tells me is not considered to be hypertension.  BUT, that is high for me as historically my blood pressure has sat around 115/70.  On my way into work I stopped to see my buddy Brandon at 'New Dawn Nutrition' and picked up a bottle of his supplement for blood pressure control.  It seems to have helped as my blood pressure was down on Saturday to 128/75.  I'll keep an eye on it to see if it won't come down a bit farther.

Brandon also gave me the name of a local Doctor who sees several other lifters here in town.  I called and talked to his Nurse, she then faxed me a form to have my old Doctor release my records to them. Once they have the records and the Doctor has reviewed them she said she would call me to set up an appointment.  Honestly, I am due for a general check up and I need to make sure there isn't anything more serious that is affecting my blood pressure spikes. It is past time for me to start dropping some body weight and personally I think that is a part of the reason for the elevated blood pressure.  So as of Friday I started cutting and completely switched not only my supplement routine but my lifting routine.

Gail will be happy that I'm switching to higher repetitions and lighter weight for leg training from low repetitions and heavy weight.  My legs have never been large in size but my legs and hips are very strong for my size and on leg presses I was hoisting weight that I've only seen two other lifters in the gym match, and both of them are a good 25 pounds heavier in body weight than I, and I know that if you add their ages together I'm still six years older than they are combined.  Both are great guys and we all give each other a lot of grief (in a good way) at the gym.

In closing I will leave you with this wonderful poem that I came across the other day.  May this day find you all well and blessed.

In His All Abundant Grace,

Roy

 Little Country Church

Wooden, white, weathered and worn,
surrounded by hard pack, thistle and thorn.
Whitewash fades from warping walls.
The steeple bell no longer calls
the faithful in to find their pews
and be inspired by God’s Good News.
Stained glass memories of better days
create a multi colored haze
on unused pulpit, dust-caked floors,
a broken chair and open doors.

Tractor tracks gouge the gravel drive
where farming families once arrived
on Sunday morning and Wednesday night.
But now, the economic plight
has forced those families off the land
and into lives they never planned.
Weeds grow through the picket fence
that surrounds the congregants
who lay beneath once well kept sod.
Headstones proclaim their faith in God
and say they have gone on to Glory.
But, no one’s here to read their story.

The scene is quaint and some say, sad.
An empty church. But it’s not bad
because the seeds of faith they grew
have been transplanted someplace new.
The good news soon to be revealed
is of the increased harvest yield.
God’s field hands have been moved to where
they can witness, love and care
for those whose lives are in the lurch.
See, that building’s just a building.
God’s people are The Church.

Poem by, Jeff Hildebrandt