by Rev. Iovine on February 27, 2010
Upwards of 20 inches of snow fell on New Milford during our Thursday-Friday snowstorm. I never thought I would say this, but I have reached the conclusion that I am sick of snow. When it snows, our church steps are absolutely hideous to clear. As I was shoveling off the steps yesterday, I couldn’t help but ponder the blessed wonders of tearing down Saint Matthew’s and rebuilding it as a one-level church with no stairs. On the other hand, I had another, possibly more brilliant, idea. I wrote the following this morning on my church blog:
After helping shovel out Saint Matthew’s for the upteenth time this winter, I think we, as a congregation, should have some serious discussion about moving the church to Florida for the winter.
Think about it — no more shoveling; no more high winter utility bills; no more worrying about plowing around the cars in the church parking lot; no more aching backs after cleaning off the church steps; no more ice melt. Instead, church can be held on the beach, just like our Lord Jesus Christ did when He preached to the masses from a boat.
For four months a year, we could embark on the blessed work of proclaiming Jesus to the masses tanning themselves on the beaches of south Florida. “Jesus Christ died for you. Join us as we receive Him and respond in prayer and praise. And don’t forget your sunscreen.”
As a congregation, we can fan out throughout the state, especially around Tampa and Port St. Lucie (where the Yankees and Mets have their respective spring training facilities) and raise Gospel awareness and our voices as we cheer on our local baseball clubs.
And as we get close to Easter time, we can celebrate Palm Sunday with really fresh palm branches in our final beach service as we return to New Milford during Holy Week.
By then, God-willing, the snow will have stopped and temperatures would be around 45-50.
Are you with me????
Tagged as:
Florida,
New Jersey,
New Milford,
snowstorm
by Rev. Iovine on February 23, 2010
More than a decade ago, I had an ugly issue with gallbladder stones. Several times over the course of a month in the springtime of 1996 I found myself bent over writhing in a stabbing pain just above my stomach. I had trouble gasping for breath during these attacks that, for the grace of God, only lasted a minute or two. Doctors said some tiny sand-like gravel was passing through my gallbladder and the only way to truly eliminate the pain would be to pop the little organ and live life without one.
Of course, I wasn’t interested in surgery, no matter how minor they considered it.
The doctor said that I could try and prevent future attacks by changing my diet. His suggestion was to become a vegan. He almost had me until he explained that I also had to give up coffee.
The surgery started looking good.
Instead, I thanked the doctor, paid my bill, and went back to work. Fellow co-workers suggested other remedies to prevent these types of attacks, including drinking more green tea. That one sounded good so I added it to my diet. From that point on, I had one additional gallbladder attack several years ago. Otherwise, no issues with stones, gravel, or sand floating through my gallbladder or liver.
However, late last night my kidney decided to get in on the stone act. Sitting at home around 11:20pm, I decided to go to bed. Putting my pad and pen down on the table in my bedroom, I stood up to prepare for sleepy time.
I took one step and felt a sharp pain stabbing me on my right side. Initially, I thought it was my appendix. Fearing that it was bursting, I painfully got dressed, slipped on two different loafers (thankfully, they were both black), and drove myself to the hospital. The pain was somewhat pulsating, ebbing several times on my six-mile journey. There was a moment while at a red light I thought the pain had eased up enough where I could go home and deal with the pain issue today, Tuesday. Ignoring the “go home” advice of my male ego, I continued on the drive to wellness. When I arrived at the hospital, I had one of those double-over-and-cry attacks.
After a few tests, the doctor said that I a couple of tiny sand-like stones in my right kidney. She said they looked tiny enough whereby I could just wait and pass them the natural way, which would be slightly painful. As she said those revelatory words, I buckled down again in pain and this time, the pain spread to my urinary tract. Suffice to say, it was ugly. Thankfully, the tiny sand-like particles exited my body.
The doctor suggested a reduction in calcium intake for a couple of days.
I’m a little worn out from not sleeping. I have a healthy list of office work to do before heading out to a town event at 2:30pm. Then, I’ll be back home.
Tagged as:
kidney stone
by Rev. Iovine on February 19, 2010
I had a very weird dream this morning. Honestly, I can’t remember a lot of it, but the parts I remember are confusing. For instance, I was standing on the roof of my church apparently for no reason. Even weirder, a friend of mine climbed up and joined me; she asked me if we were going to make biscuits for dinner.
Weird. I don’t eat biscuits.
As I continue through my Lenten discipline of denying myself television, this morning I found myself NOT struggling with the urge to turn on the morning television news. My time was spent trying to rationalize away my nutty dream; listening to Morning Edition on WNYC-FM; cleaning up the kitchen; making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast; reading this morning’s sports sections in the New York Post and New York Daily News; glancing at the Wall Street Journal; answering email and text messages while flipping around news sites on the internet; and, of course, finalizing my schedule for the day.
By 6:30am, all of this was completed.
Either I need to learn how to sleep better or I have to start going to sleep later. Waking up at 4:30am is starting to not cut it. By 6:30, I was ready to take on the day. In fact, I moved Morning Prayer at church up by thirty minutes because I was bored at home. However, as I walked back to the house, I had a wonderful revelation: My private devotion time stinks.
Yes, it does. Morning Prayer is wonderful in that I (and those who attend) I read a chapter from one of the books in the Bible aloud (today, chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians) and focus my prayers on church members, the world, and the church. But what about my consistent private prayer and devotion time? It hasn’t been great lately.
Waking up early is not a curse if I use this extra time for the glory of God. A little reading, a bit of reflecting on the Word of God, and a good chunk of praying really will direct my heart in a more hopeful direction, not only for myself, but for those around me. While I do read the Treasury of Daily Prayer, Psalm reflections by Luther, and the Portals of Prayer most days, my time with God should be more inclusive and reflective. I need to spend more time engulfed in the blessings of God and praying over His love for me.
Even though I am a pastor, I do have difficulty setting aside time in personal daily devotion. Time does get away from me. And just think about this for a moment — I am a single guy without a family! Imagine for a moment other pastors with families, their time crunch is even more crunchier than mine! Setting aside time for personal daily devotion is a struggle for us as it is for you.
Tomorrow morning, I think it is time for a deeper private devotion life.
Today is a busy one. I will be running over to New York in a just a few minutes to get a friend who is helping with our Samaritans who are serving a meal at the Walk-In Kitchen in Hackensack. I have a couple of little things to get done before the start of the church preparations for this event (and yes, it is an event). We leave the church at 3:30 and head down to the new facility on East Broadway, which on its right is the County Jail and on its left Costco. Set up at the kitchen starts around 4 and service begins at 5 until 6. The new procedure at the kitchen is raising some flags with a member or two of our Samaritan committee — I tell them that everything is going to work out well today.
It’s the change thing. Lutherans have trouble with it.
But everything WILL work out well this evening.
Take a moment today to pray for the homeless and needy of our county. Also pray that we here at Saint Matthew’s Lutheran Church can find ways to extend our ministry to those in both physical and spiritual need.
Tagged as:
Lent,
Lenten denial
by Rev. Iovine on February 19, 2010
by Rev. Iovine on February 18, 2010
Over a year ago, I spent a few dollars to pick up some Sirius XM Satellite Radio stock. At the time, it was below twelve cents.
Today, it topped 1.13.
by Rev. Iovine on February 18, 2010
Why is it that a growing number of 18-30 year olds, known as millennials, have a negative view of organized religion? A recent survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that least 25 percent of 18-30 year olds do not have ties to a specific religion. They don’t go to church or pray. Religion is not important to them and their lives. Instead, they view themselves as “agnostic,” “atheist,”or “not affiliated.”
As a pastor, to hear that a quarter of “just out of high school, just out of college, just starting their lives” young people don’t have any connection to God is disconcerting. It saddens me that so many 18-30 year olds are ignoring their God who loves them beyond any measure. For a brief moment, while that 25 percent number is staggering, we have to take a step back realize a few things:
1. Seventy-five percent of 18-30 year old people do have some kind of religious affiliation;
2. People of my Generation X generation fell into a 19 percent non-religious number; current millennials have a six percentage point increase that should be concerning many church goers; and
3. Could it be that the church is the problem?
[continue reading...]
Tagged as:
church,
Lutheran,
millennials,
Pew Research Center
by Rev. Iovine on February 18, 2010
(Today marks Day 2 of my Lenten discipline of no television. Yes, I survived Day 1 just fine.)
After waking up this morning, I reached over to my nightstand for my iPhone. Part of my waking up routine includes staring into my phone to see if I received any overnight emails, text messages, and phone calls. Thankfully, there were no calls. Instead, my Gmail box flashed 14 and I received 3 text messages, one of which needed a reply (why would someone send me a text message at 3am asking me about my Thursday night schedule?) while two of which were breaking news alerts and needed only deletion. Staring into my phone, opening up apps that I really didn’t have to (Engadget, NY Times, Fox Business), I started thinking about my iPhone specifically and Apple in general.
After a number of years, I am finally coming to a conclusion that there is life outside of the Apple Universe.
[continue reading...]
Tagged as:
Android,
Apple,
AT&T,
Google Voice,
iPhone,
Sprint,
T-Mobile,
Verizon Wireless
by Rev. Iovine on February 17, 2010
Strictly due to my Italian surname, I’ve routinely been asked about my Lutheranism. The questions and statements go along these lines:
“You are a Lutheran?”
“That must be weird, being an Italian Lutheran.”
“How are you a Lutheran?”
“You mean you’re not Catholic?”
I’ve always enjoyed these questions and statements simply because it is good for me, as a pastor, to help others understand that Lutherans are not weird. We don’t sacrifice chickens or use Wonder Bread during the Eucharist. We are real Christians who believe that out of a love we’ll never understand, God the Father sent His only-begotten Son to us to die for our sins. By His grace and mercy, He imparts the blessings of this sacrifice to us, not because we deserve it, but simply because He loves us; and that by faith alone in His Son, a faith borne of God through His Holy Spirit, we are saved.
My path to Lutheranism is an easy one — my mother was a Lutheran and my brother and I went to church with her each Sunday. I attended Sunday School from kindergarten through confirmation age, struggled through confirmation class, and ended up attending church each week following my confirmation (a rarity, to say the least). In high school, my pastor planted the seed of ministry in me by asking me to consider serving as a pastor one day. More than a decade later, by the power of God, this seed grew and led me to seminary and subsequently to Saint Matthew’s where I serve Him and His people as a clergyman.
I am not a Roman Catholic because I have trouble with a number of the underlying theologies of their faith. I believe I am saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, not because I struggle to show love to those around me. It is faith alone that saves me, and with that faith and belief, I show love to others; and while I show love, these actions do not have anything to do with my salvation. Further, I don’t believe that the dearly departed of this world hear my prayers and intercede for me with God the Father; instead, I believe that my Lord Jesus Christ is my and the world’s only intercessor with the Father, who sits at His right hand. I don’t believe that the dead bring my prayer concerns to Jesus; instead, the Holy Spirit does that work. While I believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, I do not believe in the Roman Catholic Church’s belief in transubstantiation. In a nutshell, I believe the Gospel should not be locked away from sinners by church laws.
I could continue, but I pray you get my point.
The sainted Martin Luther rescued the Gospel from church tyranny. In our day, we Lutherans need to remember this important Reformation fact and live it out in our day. Our Lutheran churches are open for sinners who are oppressed and hurting, for inside those churches, God’s children find the forgiveness of sins and washing of regeneration.
That is why I am a Lutheran.
Tagged as:
LCMS,
Lutheran,
Lutheranism,
Martin Luther
