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????

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.

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.

Christians are being killed in Iraq for being Christian.

Radical Muslims are moving to eradicate the tiny Christian population. I guess the cross scares the heck out of the armies of hate. Keep the Iraqi Christians in your prayers.

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.

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?

This is an issue that every pastor has dealt with or is dealing with today. Here at Saint Matthew’s, we have a number of millennials who don’t attend church regularly. I don’t know if they read the bible on their spare time or even spend some time during the day in prayer, but if they are like those in this survey, they don’t do any of it. I’ve tried to gauge why these young people do not come to church regularly or reach out for God, but I don’t have any answers.

Personally, I believe it all falls under the banner, “A Victim of Culture and Society.” People live in the real world and they are challenged daily by issues and ideals that go against God. It is just easier for most people to reject God than to stand up for their faith.

While in my office this morning, I’ve been listening to Gus Lloyd, the host of “Seize the Day” on The Catholic Channel on Sirius XM and in the 9am hour, he’s been discussing this topic. One gentleman who falls into that 18-30 year old category called in and basically laid down his law – the church has nothing for him. Lloyd correctly surmised that this man had suffered some hurt at the hand of the church and tried to make a critical point – one that I totally agree with:

Sometimes God’s people stink.

Speaking of Lutheran churches specifically, they are run by older and established members and nearly none of them are willing to give anyone younger than 30 a chance at anything. There will be times of real conflict where the younger person will just leave the church altogether. It the old “It’s my church. I’ve been here longer” mentality.

This falls in line with my tired old line, “The problem with the Christian Church is Christians.”

When I have time later on today, I will expand on this point a bit.

(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.

As the new Apple iPad is coming close to launching in March, tech reporters and analysts are salivating at the opportunity to get their grubby little hands all over it. While falling somewhere in between and iPhone/iPod Touch and a lap top computer, the iPad is supposed to be a revolutionary device that takes media interaction to another level. These tech gurus have called this “not an iPhone/iPod Touch, not a lap top” a “game changing” device that will evolve how we human beings communicate. Apple fanboys (the lovely little term coined by people who literally hate everyone who professes love for Apple) have proclaimed their love for a device they haven’t even laid their eyes on yet, all of whom are saving their pennies to plunk down $500 next month to get this latest and greatest device designed by the gods of the Temple at Cupertino.

Me? I’m not interested. Don’t get me wrong – I love Apple products and have purchased enough of them. Whether the iMac, the MacBook, or the iPhone, Apple designs products that are incredibly intuitive, easy to use, and just work. Other computer hardware and software companies have attempted to create Apple-busting products, but they’ve all come up short. The one great benefit that Apple has on its side is that they design both hardware and software, giving them incredible leverage over how their products come together in the end. At one time, I guess I could be considered an Apple fanboy since I believed Apple could do no wrong.

This has changed, somewhat, for me over the past several months.

While all the Apple products I own just work, I’ve been having some issues with my iPhone. For example, the inability to have multiple apps running at the same time is starting to get to me. Oh, I can make a telephone call and use another app at the same time, but if I have a radio app running and need to check email, when I switch from the radio app to the email app, the radio turns off. Of course, this isn’t terrible, but it is starting to annoy me.

And some of the apps I own, they’re starting to crash more and more. As an example, the Accuweather app has gotten very slow and crashes nearly every other time I open it to check the weather. The Genius’ at the Apple Store contend it is a software problem, not a hardware issue, of which I can agree. I do delete the app from my phone and reload it, but the problem still exists. Apple’s suggestion is to restore the entire operating system for the phone, which is fine, but I lose all the information that I’ve saved, including text message threads, information that I’ve saved in various apps like car mileage, and all the email, calendar, and contact accounts tied up with the phone.

Additionally, the Apple app store approval process that hasn’t concerned me in the past is starting to get me riled just a bit. Take the example of Google Voice, a service I use via my computer to make telephone calls. GV is a communications middleman, not a telephone provider. I just organizes voice mail better than AT&T and the iPhone, keeps logs of all the calls I’ve made, and offers free text messaging. It is easy to sit at my computer in church, click on a contact’s telephone number, ask GV to make the call via my mobile or office phone, and then the call is placed. While Google submitted its GV app to Apple for approval, the Cupertino company has not approved it for download in their App Store. Why? No one knows.

Some speculate that the app takes away from the iPhone experience. Blah! Others claim that it tries to make an end run around using the phone to make telephone calls. Even more blah! Google Voice doesn’t provide phone service. You still need a mobile phone with a voice plan to make calls. Yet, Apple continues to deny this app. Google has tried an end-around the Apple approval process by creating a special GV website that almost replicates services on the GV app. But to be honest, at times, with poor 3G connections, the website is slow.

Of course, another issue I have is AT&T. I am tired of their high prices, though they are not as high at Verizon Wireless. My monthly bill for 900 minutes,  unlimited data, and limited text messages (1500 a month) is $117. While their service has gotten much better during the past several months, the cost bothers me. I know someone who is on Sprint with a HTC Hero Android phone; he gets unlimited everything and is paying $10 less than I am with my not-unlimited plan. With AT&T, if I went unlimited everything, my bill would be over $130 a month.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have seriously looked at other mobile phones and carriers; in fact, I am thisclose to making a decision on switching. I’ve looked at all the major carriers. T-Mobile and Sprint impressed me the most simply due to their Google Android phone offerings and overall cost. Verizon Wireless, while they may tout their expansive 3G network, they are still cost prohibitive and I’m not crazy about their phones. If I’m going to spend more than $130 a month on unlimited mobile everything, then I best stick with AT&T.

In the New Jersey/New York area, both T-Mobile and Sprint have good coverage. From what has been written on T-Mobile fan blogs, they have recently upgraded their coverage throughout the region, making their 3G network faster. Sprint seems to have decent coverage throughout the area and they have roaming contracts with a number of companies across the country, making their voice service expansive. And both companies have good Android-based phones that provide seamless integration with Google services like email, calendars, and voice, all of which I use religiously.

Last Monday, I thought about switching to Sprint and getting a Palm Pre simply because on the television show “24,” Jack Bauer used one and it worked. What made me laugh about the Bauer-Palm Pre sequence was that he first tried to use a Motorola flip phone, but it didn’t work. In the scene, after getting angry that the Motorola phone didn’t work, he asked a police officer if he could use his phone, which was the Palm Pre, and it just worked. Funny.

I still have a lot to think about when it comes to switching. Part of me says I should wait and see what Apple comes out with in the new iPhone. Another part of me is telling me to cut ties with Apple and AT&T.

A friend of mine had another suggestion — downgrade my phone to one of the free AT&T phones and get just a voice plan; change my cell number and don’t give the number out and instead, tell everyone to use my Google Voice number; buy an iPad with 3G coverage and get the limited 250 MB monthly plan for $15. He said I would still be able to use the same apps on my iPhone without the $117 a month bill.

Interesting.

Time to head back to church. We’re preparing for our meal at the Walk-In Shelter in Hackensack tomorrow; I have a New Milford Senior Advisory Meeting at 1:30; I will be finalizing my weekend sermon structure today; tonight we’re setting up for our Saturday night Chinese New Year’s Dinner; and I have to return someone’s text message from very early this morning …

]]> http://www.reviovine.com/2010/02/day-two/feed/ 3 http://www.reviovine.com/2010/02/why-are-you-lutheran/ http://www.reviovine.com/2010/02/why-are-you-lutheran/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:38:59 +0000 Rev. Iovine http://www.reviovine.com/?p=374

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.

I woke up this morning at my “normal” time – around 4:45. A bit dazed from a confusing dream, I tried to get my footing by answering the most basic of questions: Where am I? What time is it?

Following these few brief moments that included staring at the clock with those dissonant red numbers “4:54″ trumpeting the start of my day, I remembered that today is Ash Wednesday, the start of the season of Lent and the kickoff of my Lenten “no TV” discipline. With the remote controls laying on the nightstand next to the bed, I smiled as I ever-so-gently picked them up to slide them into the drawer. My traditional morning routine including turning on the local news; this morning, the television stayed off.

It wasn’t hard. I’ve been unhappy with the state of morning local news for a while; it is too programmatic. Traffic and weather on the 4’s, 5’s, or every 7 minutes, followed by quickie traffic reports. The first news report at the start of the hour is the same report at the bottom of the hour. Even the in-the-field reporters use the same bad puns in each of their stand up reports. Morning news has become boring; in fact, you need to only watch 10 or 15 minutes.

Instead of this ritual, I got ready for the day.

By 6am, I was ready. I went downstairs, turned on the coffee pot (this morning, Chock Full O’Nuts original blend), and went outside to pick up the New York Post and Wall Street Journal from the icy driveway (thank you, late night light snow). I poured a cup of black coffee, unbagged the newspapers, and went upstairs to the bedroom to read. I needed to charge my phone, so I plugged it into my speaker (I am probably only one of three people who spent money on the Apple HiFi speaker) and used the Stitcher app on my phone to listen to Morning Edition on WNYC-FM.

I may be the only conservative in America who will admit to liking Public Radio. While the opinions of the “reporters” and the regular commentators raise those little hairs on the back of my neck, they still provide a wide range of news reports from around the nation and the world that you cannot get anywhere else on the radio. What I’ve always liked is that they give important stories more time, unlike the 30-second quickie news reports on commercial news stations.

During the past year or so, I’ve reduced my Morning Edition listening. I figured that during Lent without television, this would be a good time to put NPR back in my listening rotation. This morning, after listening to a really detailed report from Pakistan on the capture of a terrorist leader, I was glad I turned it on. I know this sounds funny, but combining the Wall Street Journal (a good conservative newspaper that has vastly improved its general news reporting) with the liberal NPR, my morning news round up was complete.

After a quick Morning Prayer service, I was back at home cleaning up and thinking about breakfast. A second cup of coffee poured, I sat down and started writing this entry. And no, I haven’t finalized breakfast, yet. In the background, WCBS-AM is blaring. One of their reports dealt with the pending NJ Transit cuts made my Governor Christie last week. NJ Transit officials are warning of huge fare increases because of the governor’s actions. Of course, the doom-and-gloom reporter was surprised when he spoke to a passenger who applauded the Governor for trying to deal with the state’s fiscal mess.

My schedule today is fairly basic – office work this morning, sermon study time this afternoon, cook for tonight’s Ash Wednesday Pot Luck dinner, prepare for tonight’s service. Oh, and I will be writing.

When I woke up this morning, weather forecasters were predicting a morning-to-afternoon lull in the snow hitting the Northern New Jersey area. As one of them expressed at 5:30am, this morning’s light snow would come to an end around 7 and nothing else until later on today when another batch of light snow would cross the area.

Ha!

It’s been snowing all morning. Right now, at 11:08am, the snow is falling pretty moderately. We have a nice accumulation, much higher than the “lower end of the 1 to 3 inches” promised by the weather forecaster.

Blah!!