2024 DAY 6…MISSED DAY 5. WHAT WILL THE FUTURE HOLD?

January 6, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I missed yesterday’s posting time. It just got busy. That is always my excuse…. I got too busy. At some point I have to stop making excuses about the things I say I want and just do them.

Today I am answering the question from NOOM entitled, “EXPRESS YOURSELF PT. 2”

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JOURNAL ABOUT A DAY IN YOUR FUTURE LIFE, WHEN YOU ARE LIVING FULLY AND CONFIDENTLY. THINK ABOUT THE QUALITIES YOU SEE IN YOURSELF AND HOW YOU ARE INTERACTING WITH OTHERS AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU. HOW DO YOU FEEL? HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE SEEN BY THE WORLD?

I was just talking with my daughter, Melanie, today about some things I am praying into for change during our annual fast which starts tomorrow.

I am praying for increased dedication to losing weight and to increasing may flexibility. I have a lot of muscle and joint page now. Stretching really helps. I get busy (there it is…my go to excuse). Losing weight will also help significantly… I know it. I say I am too busy to meal plan (and again). So I see that one of the changes I am praying in to my heart is that I stop feeling too busy. Some of it is just about addressing the lie (the stronghold) that I am too busy.

I also have to pray about what I should stop doing.

On that day in the future I will wake up to a fully scheduled day…but I will not be stressed about it. Nor will I rush to get into my day but I will rise to a slow, constant and intentional pace. I will make the breakfast I planned the day before and I will spend time in prayer and then in stretching.

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As I launch into the day I will work according to my schedule and pray according to the bells (on my phone that remind me when it is time to pray and study the Scripture). The people around me will be aware of the lifestyle I live and will let me live it, knowing that I am a better pastor and leader and man of God because of it.

WHAT DOES A FUTURE DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

DAY 1 2024

January 1, 2024January 1, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Happy New Year!

2023 is history. Here is my favorite picture from the last year.

This is a picture of night time at The Vicarage during a full moon. I was pleasantly surprised by the filter edits I was able to impose on the original.

I am setting my sights on 2024 now. I am praying close into what God will give me for the year ahead. I already know my word for the year…”PREPARE”. I am asking now what I should use for filters on the raw material God gives me so that I might be prepared for God’s best outcome.

I know I am going to be working on my weight, strength and flexibility.

I know I am going to be working on my administrative capabilities.

I know I am going to be working on my writing again.

I know I am going to be preparing for some big changes at The Vicarage which will affect me spiritually, emotionally, and practically.

I know there are opportunities and challenges in my pastoral work that I need to get a better understanding of.

I know there are coming changes in The United States and the Earth which I need to understand better.

I know God is about to move in our church in some new, exciting and challenging ways.

I know God is about to move in our region in some new, exciting and challenging ways.

Lord Prepare me! Lord prepare us!

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WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEXT YEAR WILL BRING?

WHAT DOES A DAY LOOK LIKE?

December 30, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 3 Comments

People might wonder what a day in the life of a minister looks like. Well every day is different, but each day does have its commonalities.

PRAYER

No call to ministry can be carried out without much prayer. For me prayer is a practice I call myself back to seven times a day. Some of my prayer sessions are short, some are long depending on the rest of my daily schedule, but everything I do must be hemmed in by prayer.

BIBLE STUDY

Every day needs the Bible to be read and studied. Today being Saturday I spent time in devotional reading (Revelation and Deuteronomy) and then I spent some time studying Greek tenses for my sermon tomorrow.

PEOPLE WORK

There is never a day which does not involve connecting with people: Visitation, services, group studies, outreach, phone calls, letter writing, e-mails, texts, Messenger. I use them all and more in order to make connections with my congregation and community. Building relationships is a part of everyday’s work.

PAPER WORK

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Paperwork and administration is also an essential part of the everyday work of a minister. It is my weakest area of ministry. It is what I call “swallowing the frog.”

FAMILY

Unlike most jobs the family life of a minister is an important consideration. The other works of ministry often make prioritizing family health very difficult. Lord knows, I have done a poor job of it during many seasons of my ministry life. It certainly effected my effectiveness as a minister. Now I try everyday to make at least some small move towards greater family health.

I don’t think of the ministry as a job, really. It’s more of a life rhythm that helps influence a community’s health.

Finishing Up and Getting Ready

December 29, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

The season of lights is almost over. 2023 is nearly done. My son and his family took me to Lancaster Nights on Wednesday to see the year out. We enjoyed the ride through the park of lights.

Each light display, each tunnel reminded me that we are on a journey here at The Vicarage. 2024 is right around the corner and I sense something momentous is coming in the year ahead.

Today Joe, Kristine and Sevy are on a two day breakaway, in Wells Maine. Amanda and I began preparing the house for the arrival of my sister in 13 days. She is coming to help with Mom for the next few months.

Mom’s health has taken a turn these last few weeks. It feels like this is a part of the momentous change that is coming in 2024. It is, certainly, one of the most important things I feel our family needs to prepare for. I am praying much into the “how’s’ and “wherefores” of this preparation as well as into what else the word preparation is going to mean for The Vicarage in the next 365 day span.

PREPARE IS MY WORD FOR THE YEAR. WHAT IS YOUR WORD?

A DAY GIVEN TO DEATH

December 20, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I am in the midst of a day of death. I awoke this morning and headed to church early to set up tables in our fellowship hall for a funeral reception we are having this evening. After finishing up at church I was just sitting down to put the finishing touches on my funeral sermon when I got a call from another parishioner. His wife had just passed into glory.

I experienced several moments of feeling overwhelmed. Then the still small voice of God spoke into my heart.

DEATH IS NOT THE END. IT IS A BEGINNING.

I knew this as truth. I just needed the reminder in the moment of stress. I am thankful for a God who is able to speak to me when I need speaking to.

Bolstered by the knowledge of new beginnings I went to the family, prayed with them, hugged them and did the work for which God has appointed me. Now as I sit awaiting tonight’s funeral that knowledge still holds me and will hold me through. Such knowledge can hold us all through as we face life’s greatest challenges. There is a God who loves us. He is passionate about mankind. He brings help wherever He is invited, wherever He is welcomed. In the presence of God even death becomes a doorway through which we can walk into greater blessing.

WHERE IN YOUR LIFE DO YOU NEED TO WELCOME GOD AT THIS MOMENT?

So Much Fun

December 11, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

We just marched through the second weekend of Advent, The weekend of Peace. It was so much fun. Last week our church was honored to host our local high school for three days while the school was repaired from a malfunction with one of its hot water heaters.

This weekend we had a team come in to clean up and get ready for church on Sunday. But the church staff and school staff did such a great job of putting the church back together that the congregation was able to do a few extra jobs which have been waiting in the wings.

I had thought we would have the students with us for two weeks, so I rented this huge dumpster which the school hardly used. We used it instead to get rid of a shed full of rotten lumber we have been sitting on for a looooong time. Meanwhile a group of ladies went through out kitchen and indoor storage rooms to get rid of old and broken kitchen and ministry items.

I love cleaning out!

Another group of congregants worked in the sanctuary reattaching the chairs which had been disconnected and because it is the fourth season of the church year they also vacuumed. You know the four seasons of the church year don’t you? Spring, Summer, Fall and Glitter.

Vacuuming is not really effective against glitter but at least it gets up the sand and the salt that people carry in from the parking lot.

After the clean out Amanda and I headed over to our sister church, Bread of Life, which was hosting the Special Touch Ministry Christmas party.

It was ten years ago that Amanda and I joined twelve other people led by Mike and Kim Ferguson to start the first New England Chapter of Special Touch Ministry to the Disabled.

It is amazing to see what God has done over this last decade through this ministry!

It was even more amazing to see Mike playing King Herod for the Christmas story wearing a tiara.

While we were partying, Kristine was hard at work at home reorganizing the Vicarage kitchen.

Amanda, Melanie, Daniella and Abigail, finished off the night by attending Cornerstone’s leadership Christmas party.

It was a busy day filled with true peace.

WHAT DID YOU DO LAST WEEKEND?

“I Am No Bird…”

December 7, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

“I am no bird and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” Charlotte Bronte.

Last week I stopped by the local library to see what they had on offer at their used book sale.

I found several books, one of them was THE WISDOM OF ALPACAS. It’s a book of quotes about individuality. I thought the daily quotes would be useful as writing prompts for my blog here at “Notes”.

So here I sit at my dining room table on a cloudy Thursday afternoon, as the Vicarage naps (well at least Sevy and Mom are napping). I have my cup of afternoon Ginger and Yuja tea. I am sitting down to write from this first quote from the book.

Honestly sometimes I feel more like a caged bird than I do a human being with free will. My bars are not made of metal or plastic. My bars made of the flow of life and of the mindset that life is a rushing river that I can do little about.

Lately my prayers have been refocusing me around my own personal responsibility. Life may be a rushing river, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing I can do about the rushing. There are things I can choose to do each day to make my dreams come true in the midst of the rushing.

I can plan for the rushing.

I can say “no” to the rushing especially when it is someone else’s rush.

I can break my dreams down into bite sized pieces and plan to work on them a little everyday.

I find that working my plan around the prayer cycle makes the work easier somehow. I also find that if I do not make prayer the center and springboard of my plan then the plan falls apart. For me I would say prayer is the key to exercising free will in a healthy productive way so I don’t revert to my caged bird form.

WHAT IN YOUR LIFE HELPS YOU TO EXERCISE YOUR FREE WILL?

WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE PT. 2

November 25, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I started this series last week as we were looking forward to Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving! I would go so far as to say it is my favorite holiday.

I love everything about this holiday. I love the meal prep. I love the gathering of family. I love the parade, and I love the low key nature of the day. So often I feel like I have to work hard to keep myself in the rhythm of slow, constant, intentionality, my chosen rhythm. Normal life seems to work against it, but at Thanksgiving the world slows down and living slowly, constantly and intentionally becomes easy.

It was such a good day. We all gathered at the table. We prayed. We ate. Then we napped. Then everyone went home with leftovers. It was awesome. I did not however spend time pushing myself to write, and I think that was correct. Even our healthiest rhythms must be rested from at some point.

That is the next thing I will say about how I want life to be different three years from now. THREE YEARS FROM NOW I WANT TO BE LIVING THIS LIFE RHYTHM WITH MORE PLANNED VARIATION AND WITH FAR LESS GUILT WHEN I DO VARY THE RHYTHM

One of the things I am thinking of is the idea of building seasons of rest from my chosen life rhythm into my weekly and yearly calendar. Consistency is one thing. Monotony is another.

I am coming to understand Sabbath in a new way. SABBATH IS NOT JUST ABOUT REST. IT IS ALSO ABOUT A DEPARTURE FROM THE RHYTHM OF THE REST OF THE WEEK.

Holiday is also about a departure or maybe a differentiation from the normal rhythm of life. I have realized that giving myself a break sometimes makes me feel guilty. When I change the things I do on a day, when I don’t accomplish everything on my daily list I face the temptation of feeling like I have failed somehow. I am going to change that.

DO YOU EVER FEEL GUILTY ABOUT HOLIDAYS AND WHAT YOU ARE NOT DOING IN THEM?

WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE? PT. 1

November 20, 2023November 20, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

I started writing this post on Saturday morning before leadership training. I only had about 10 minutes which proved to be not enough time to get even the beginning of my thoughts down. I think this is going to require even more brain space than I have time to give it now, but I think I can at least start here and carry on later.

The daily writing prompt from WordPress this week is, WHAT WILL YOUR LIFE BE LIKE THREE YEARS FROM NOW?

So Thanksgiving 2026.

I will probably be eating turkey dinner which I might or might not cook myself. I certainly hope it is well brined. I do love a brined turkey! My turkey for 2023 is brining even now as I write.

I will have just celebrated my 59th birthday the day before. Usually birthdays around here are pretty low key and it will be one year before the big 6-0 so….I imagine I will probably have cake or pie or something with my kids

I THINK I WILL STILL BE IN MINISTRY AT CORNERSTONE CHURCH. At this point I have dedicated 27 years of my ministry life to the church. I cannot see it changing this far into the game. It is hard to think that the majority of my professional work as a pastor has been in this one church. All of my professional work as a minister has been in my hometown of Winchendon MA. It amazes me to think I have been working as a pastor for 32 years!

Within three years I hope to have lost the 80 pounds I am working on. If that is so then I will definitely celebrate with a piece of cake and a good Thanksgiving meal. Of course it will probably be done in a more healthy context than my current eating is done in.

At least I wish it so….

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR WISHES?

IT MAKES ME SMILE

November 13, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

This post is written in response to Trent’s WEEKLY SMILE CHALLENGE.

What exactly is making me smile today at The Vicarage?

Breakfast with my Mom this morning made me smile. The conversation is repetitive and predictable. Today we talked about my Aunt Libby’s family as Mom tried hard to remember who each of her nieces and nephews were and what they are doing these days. But that we can still have conversation and that it makes sense makes me smile. Everyday I have with the lady who brought me up is a treasure.

Hearing the noise of the house waking up always makes me smile. Sevy is upstairs doing his morning “Chica Chica” (Korean for toothbrushing). My daughter-in-law is puttering around upstairs the sounds of breaking out clothing for the day and bed making is over my head. My daughter was up for her morning cup of coffee. It’s her day off and here at The Vicarage we take Sabbath rest very seriously because of how hard we work the rest of the week.

I love having a house full. Living with four generations here at The Vicarage is one of my greatest joys!

What is making you smile today?

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

Christianity