Here is the study document from which "Still Married After COVID" is derived.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x-NJCO7cFXiKLWTS9W5sK8umTyFFK8TfdSFqBlzwS3k/edit?usp=sharing

So, now I'm also a podcaster...

So, now I'm a also podcaster...

As the world seems to be growing apart with this COVID pandemic, and as I see folks reluctant to come back to church, I wondered, "what does this mean?" and, "What can we do about it?"

The result was a booklet/study I created called "Still Married After COVID: How the Eternal Bride Groom Stays Connected to His Bride in an Ever-Changing World."  I taught it first at Camp Linn Haven's (North Carolina) Family Week #3 this summer and, after some editing, will be doing so at Redeemer in Olathe in August and early September.

Since so many folks can't be in Bible Study personally, or don't like watching a video of someone just standing in front of a classroom, I thought I would create podcasts for each of the chapters and put them out there on the inter-webs for folks to grab at their leisure.   https://anchor.fm/perry-sukstorf is the most direct way to find it, though its also on apple podcasts, Pocket Casts, as well as Spotify for now.  Others will be added later.

If you want a copy of the booklet, let me know and I'll send it to you.  Let me know if you want a PDF or a hard-copy and you can Venmo me the postage.

Anyway, take a listen, let me know what you think, and share with me your ideas about the Church can continue to be the Bride of Christ, even when we are separated for extended periods of time.

I've got some bad news to share

I’ve got some bad news to share.

I’ve known about it for some time, but the symptoms continue to grow more advanced and require me to come forward and be honest with all of you.  You see, I’m dying.

I don’t know how long I’ve got left, but it makes me even more determined. 

I want to make sure every day is lived with a purpose; I can’t stand to waste any time on things that don’t matter or arguing about theories and what-ifs.  I want to spend the time I have making sure that my legacy will be a positive one, and not negative.  I want to know that all those I love will be ok and taken care of when I’m gone.  I want to leave behind a legacy that lets the world know what I stand for and what I lived for and for what I was willing to die, not just in my words, but in what I leave behind for future generations to follow.  I want to know that I made a difference.

From the aches and pains in my joints, to the lack of firmness in my muscles to the color in my thinning hair, I know I am not intended to live on forever in this body.  It is even effecting the relationships in my life as my defective body causes harm to others and my angry words offend them as I lash out in desperation for my condition.  I can’t wish it away and no medicine can cure it.  I simply try each day to suppress its effects.

The sickness I have is called sin.  An insidious disease, it escapes no-one and it has no cure.  It will end my life; when, I do not know.  But it is certainly coming.  I don’t know if I will be here tomorrow or whether I have another 30 or 50 years.  But I am certain it is coming.  I feel its effects worsen each day.

 

But I also know that relief is coming.

Some say death is the great liberator, but I say it is the enemy.  In fact, I do not look forward to death, especially the pain which precedes it.  Rather, I look to the life that will be given me when Christ comes again in his glory to raise the dead and to bring me home with all the saints who have gone before.  Christ is my relief and my reviver.  He made his first promise to me at my baptism and renews it each week through his Body and Blood in Holy Communion and I know he will fulfill it one day when he returns in Glory.

 

This is Lent.   

A time when we are confronted with the sorry state of our existence; the failure of our own efforts to effect salvation for ourselves.  But at the end of the Lenten tunnel there is a light, “Ein Licht auf dem Weg.” It’s called the Resurrection.  Not only was Jesus raised from death, signaling his defeat of death, but he has been declared the “first born of the dead” by both Paul and John.  Meaning that I too will one day join him.  Will you be joining me?

 

My apologies if I shocked you into reading this.  

But it’s a message I feel very strongly about.  I know that not everyone I know is a believer in Jesus and it pains me to know that we will not spend eternity together.  I had hoped that if I illustrated to you to temporal nature of our relationship you might be moved to consider your mortality by contemplating mine.

Bearing the Cost of Church Worker Education

Here are some thoughts I'm presenting at our Professional Church Workers Conference today. https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=7891bd9e4019c823&page=view&resid=7891BD9E4019C823!62291&parId=7891BD9E4019C823!114app=PowerPoint

Here is the paper:
 https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=7891bd9e4019c823&page=view&resid=7891BD9E4019C823!63066&parId=7891BD9E4019C823!115app=WordPdf