ps from ps: I’m a “top of the pile guy.” This term is not in a Dictionary or Wikipedia so let me share some insight. (Disclaimer: for those newer to “ps from ps”, Steve often just makes up his own words. And many times, his own grammar rules as well. If you’re an English major, hang onto your hats!)
Being a TotPG (Steve also invents his own abbreviations) means that, upon getting ready for work/stuff/life in the beginning of the day, it’s a lot easier just to grab a t-shirt or socks or whatever off the top of the clean clothes pile in the wash basket than to look through all the drawers and closets for some outfit. If I’ve worn these clean clothes before, then they must be able to fit together into some sort of coherent outfit again. Right? (Although my daughter Lauren would disagree that the outfit was coherent the first time around.)
But what happens here is that I end up wearing the same five t-shirts. Over and over and over.
I have a lot of other great t-shirts! I just never dive deep enough. Don’t take the time. Don’t make the effort. But when I do, I’m always thrilled with the “new” shirt that reminds me of something great or a place I’ve been or a fire company I work with or a Buffalo sports team.
The same thing happens with my faith life. I gut stuck in ruts. I often take the easy route and least effort. I forget to dive deeper. I become a STotPG (Spiritual Top of the Pile Guy)
But every time I do make the effort – in deeper worship, additional Bible reading, more space for prayer, singing some Jesus-songs in the car instead of sports radio, and more….I’m always blessed by it. Thrilled even.
Take some time to reflect on the same old clothes you are wearing, and by clothes you are wearing I mean spiritual practices and routines you may be stuck in. If you need suggestions for new t-shirts (and by t-shirts I don’t mean t-shirts), let me know or talk to your pastor or other spiritual mentors.
The top of the pile is fine…but maybe there is something deeper to rediscover as well.
ps from ps: Nice brand new floor in the kitchen eh?
That’s the kitchen floor at St. Paul’s! Many of you Daily Bread or St. Paul’s vets might be saying: “wow, beauty, really nice new floor!”
But it’s not a new floor. It just had a deep cleaning. And it’s seemingly now a NEW FLOOR!!
If you had been in there recently, there were approximately 3.2 inches of church meals, meal shares, burrito remnants and other stuff ground into those nice tiles to make them dull, slippery and a tad ugh. It doesn’t mean they weren’t cleaned each time we used the kitchen. It just means that the quick sweeps and mops that get rushed at the end of the night or a shift, sometimes leave some things behind.
See, ministry is messy. Ministry gets us dirty. Ministry (especially the food prep kind…but the other types too) leaves things behind, gets greasy and dirties us up.
Monday – Saturday can get us worn down, less shiny, a little grimy and a tad dirty. But that means the space is being used. That means WE are being used. If a church kitchen was too clean, I’d ask some questions. If a church building was empty during the week, I’d ask some questions. If a church sanctuary has too many empty seats and yet super pretty gold and silver things up front, I’d ask some questions.
This floor is super clean now. But in a few short weeks, we’ll get ‘er nice a dirty again. Feeding people. Loving people. Nourishing lives. Connecting one another.
So I ask you this today: 1. Have you taken the time for some deep cleaning? Is your Saturday night at Amherst or your Sunday morning at St. Paul’s (or wherever you worship on the weekend) a time to wash fully clean with peace, grace, song, Word, meal, forgiveness and fellowship? 2. And once that shine is buffed up, are you ready to get dirty again? Are you ready to be in the “floor messing up” kinda ministry that God needs from each of us?
Shine ’em up. Get them ready to get dirty again. That’s the life of a church kitchen floor….and discipleship.
Lord, help me to take time for deep cleaning to get me ready for deeper ministry. Amen
ps from ps: I would ask all of you to be in prayer for those in the paths of storms and those that have been devastated by them already. Please remember that this storm season has already devastated Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands.
Also, please allow our prayer to be active. If you are moved to give financially to help in the response, you can share through Lutheran Disaster Response, which has an excellent record of stewardship and long term recovery response.
You can also check in with local ELCA congregations in the affected areas and find their information on the ELCA Find A Congregation page to see what their local needs will be.
Thanks for praying with me.
Lord, keep all those in the path of storms safe. Watch over leaders, disaster response teams and first responders as they become your hands and feet on scene. Amen
ps from ps: How’s your harvest coming? Have you been out this morning plowing the fields?
Well probably besides the Spoth family that comes to church at St. Paul’s, there’s probably not too many others reading this that fired up a farm combine this morning.
But don’t we all reap our harvest? And don’t we all have crops of share?
Take a look at Devo’s on the Go today by clicking HERE.
Lord, help me to share the blessings I have received. Amen
It’s a word we often, but tangibly, what does it look like?
My good friend from our old days at Resurrection Lutheran, Mike Saxon, will be singing at St. Paul’s this Sunday. (He’s in town and I basically guilted him into it.). The song he picked is called: “Hope in front of me.” You can listen to it by clicking HERE. I hadn’t heard it before but the words and visual images were striking to me. They represented a lot of feelings that travel through my head, and maybe yours quite often.
Trigger warning: they are tough images to watch because for many of us, negative feelings are just under the surface of our everydayness. We pull routines together to keep everything together. We pull away from deeper conversations so as to not strike a nerve. We move right to the edge of being vulnerable, and then we step back because it’s safer.
Because maybe, we lose sight of what hope looks like.
One of our lessons for this week come from 1 Timothy 2:1 – “First of all, then, I urge you that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for EVERYONE….” Everyone. The description of this whole lesson in the bulletin will say: “The church’s focused prayer for others is an expression of the single-minded passion God has toward us in Jesus.”
Single-minded passion. Prayer for everyone. The gift of Jesus for me…with all my self-doubt, negative thoughts and general messiness.
And as I start to remember those things, hope starts to take shape.
When I pray in church with others on the journey – hope takes shape.
When I have the hard conversations with people and realize I’m not alone – hope takes shape.
When I read the stories of Jesus purpose and passion for me – hope takes shape.
Let me encourage you to grab hold of that hope. Let me invite you to start to give it shape in your dailyness. And if you are in a place to, let me plead with you to share that hope with those around you through your presence and prayer.
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