Tag: redemption

Prayer Note #41 — An Advent Devotional Prayer — Isaiah 47:1, 3b-15

~ gachorpenning ~ 2 Comments

  The Death of Evil, the Birth of Hope   Isaiah 47:1, 3b-15               O Lord, your anger frightens us.  When we read such passages of scripture as this one, we are made uneasy.  We move on quickly to happier lines and brighter verses.  Through your prophet Isaiah here … Continue reading Prayer Note #41 — An Advent Devotional Prayer — Isaiah 47:1, 3b-15

Pastor Note #47 — Living in Time, Living with God, Part 3: Disciplines of Christian Remembering

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            Time can seem like an enemy to us sometimes.  Our lives flow away from us into the past.  And as they do, they seem to slip through our fingers like sand.  We can especially feel that way as we watch our children and then our grandchildren grow up and … Continue reading Pastor Note #47 — Living in Time, Living with God, Part 3: Disciplines of Christian Remembering

Prayer Note #39 — On Not Being All That I Could Be

~ gachorpenning ~ 2 Comments

Let me have ears to hear you clearly and a heart and mind to understand you deeply and a strong inclination to go as you lead me and to use what you have given me, and so to glorify your name. You have given me many gifts, many resources, many tools.  But mostly I squander … Continue reading Prayer Note #39 — On Not Being All That I Could Be

Pastor Note #44 — Coffee Mugs and Robust Coffee, Churches and the Powerful Presence of Jesus

~ gachorpenning ~ 2 Comments

There are several steady coffee mugs in my life.  In our kitchen cabinets at home, we have quite a stable of coffee mugs.  Coffee mugs seem to just accumulate over time.  Recently, we cleared some of them out because we were running out of room on the shelves.  I’m willing to drink coffee out of … Continue reading Pastor Note #44 — Coffee Mugs and Robust Coffee, Churches and the Powerful Presence of Jesus

Pastor Note #43 — Blood on the Pew (A day in March 2000)

~ gachorpenning ~ 2 Comments

It was Tuesday noontime.  I had gone into the big, dark Romanesque sanctuary of my church in downtown Columbus, Ohio for a weekly prayer meeting with a handful or so of people, mostly not members of my congregation but rather folks who worked downtown and constituted part of my weekday ancillary congregation. As I sat … Continue reading Pastor Note #43 — Blood on the Pew (A day in March 2000)

Prayer Note #37 — On a Summer Morning

~ gachorpenning ~ 2 Comments

Lord, the sun is warm and pleasant on my back.  The birds of all sorts are chirping and twittering in the trees around me this morning.  Lily, my gracious, canine companion, is lying beside me with her chin on the bottom rail looking out into the backyard, watching everything and nothing in particular, patient and … Continue reading Prayer Note #37 — On a Summer Morning

Prayer Note #36 — The Time of my Life

~ gachorpenning ~ 1 Comment

Here I am, Lord.  It's a little before 5:00 A.M., and I've been awake for a half an hour or so, lying in bed, my mind wandering from thought to thought.  I seem to be done sleeping, though the clock tells me that I shouldn't be.  Have you wakened me for some reason?  Or is … Continue reading Prayer Note #36 — The Time of my Life

Prayer Note #34 — Refreshment from the Suffocation of Sin

~ gachorpenning ~ 5 Comments

Though I am mired in sin, yet still have mercy on me, O Father and Lord of my life.  Capture my every thought and all the impulses of my being.  Make me yours in every facet of my life, so that I might have peace and full redemption in every branch and twig and leaf … Continue reading Prayer Note #34 — Refreshment from the Suffocation of Sin

Pastor Note #40–Working the Streets; The Ministry of Risk-taking

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When the doorbell rang, I jumped up and turned off the television.  It was 4:20 in the afternoon, and I was watching a re-run of M*A*S*H instead of working on my next Sunday's sermon.  After a few seconds, I walked slowly down the stairs to answer the door.  There were three little boys and a … Continue reading Pastor Note #40–Working the Streets; The Ministry of Risk-taking

Pastor Note #37 — A Boy on the Streets, Part 1

~ gachorpenning ~ 3 Comments

[A story from my time as a pastor in downtown Columbus:] He wanted milk with the sandwiches I had given him.  I had offered him lemonade, soda, and orange juice.  But he wanted a glass of milk.  When he drank it, it left a mustache on his upper lip.  After a moment, he wiped it … Continue reading Pastor Note #37 — A Boy on the Streets, Part 1