An Icy Parade Of Palms

March 24, 2024March 24, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 6 Comments

We had an ice storm over night.

The day dawned bright, sunny and cold.

Nature decorated our Palm Sunday service with diamonds in the trees. Some of the towns in our area lost power due to power lines downed by ice laden trees.

I was a little worried it would be too cold for the Parade of Palms our local council of churches had planned.

But by noon the sun had warmed things up nicely.

About 70 people….family and friends gathered with palms in hand to march up our Central St. behind a donkey to commemorate Jesus’ Triumphal Entry.

We finished with prayers by the clergy for our town. I got to pray.

Rabbi Ken prayed in Hebrew.

Jon Bauver the director of The Worship Room House of Prayer prayed.

Father Henry from Immaculate Heart prayed.

Finally Pastor Calvin Miller the coordinator of our event closed us out.

How Did You Spend Your Palm Sunday.?

WEEKEND COFFEE SHARE FROM THE VICARAGE

March 23, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

If we were sharing coffee today at the Vicarage, you would be drinking a strong generic French Roast from Market Basket. It is strong because I put an extra scoop (to two) in the basket. We would also be sharing any number of pastries from our kitchen: Coffee cake, Apple Fritters, Donuts, Turnovers. The congregation is keeping us well stocked during this season of my mother’s hospice.

Brenda, Joe, Kristine and I have worked hard this week to take care of Mom and Sevy.

Amanda,Melanie, James and the girls were vacationing in Pennsylvania.

I would share with you that it was a good week. I got a lot of work done from home. I even got to take some time on Thursday night to pray at the worship room.

Well everyone is back home safely now. Brenda, Mom and I are watching Dr. Dolittle (well Mom is sleeping peacefully through Dr. Dolittle) while the kids are playing Everdell in the other room.

Next week, starting tomorrow, promises to be busy. So today is rest up day and get ready day. What is your day like?

Freezing Flower Of Promise

March 22, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Soooo cold….. It is 19 degrees with a windchill on this fine Spring day. To top it off we have 2- 4 inches of snow coming tonight.

But it its Spring and I am thinking of gardens. I really want to work outdoors this Spring and summer. To clean up. To burn brush. To plant. To water. To weed even. And to harvest!

At this time of year Spring snows are to be expected, even if they are never welcomed. The promise and the hope, of course, is that the snow will not last. It will come and it will go as do all of life’s trials. The roses will bloom again. Until then we hold onto the hope of flowers yet to grow and the memory of flowers faded and passed like the one above.

HERE IS A SONG ABOUT ALL THAT.

THIS POST WAS WRITTEN IN RESPONSE TO CEE’S FLOWER OF THE DAY CHALLENGE.

TRAINING WHEELS COMING OFF

March 20, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

In my last coaching session I used a couple of similes to describe how my mother’s hospice care makes me feel. I said it makes me feel like Nemo at the edge of the reef staring out at the open ocean.

I also said it felt like the training wheels were about to come off of my bicycle.

In ministry, I have always struggled with not getting consumed by the expectations of others. It has been hard to navigate the waters of what other people think I should be doing as. minister. I have a problem with approval addiction.

Since I moved in with my mother over a decade ago, her health has been a concern and a governor for the amount of ministry I could do. As her health has declined over these last three or four years the ministry has become more governed. I have had to prioritize the things I really felt God telling me to do, THE FOUR THINGS, and let the rest of people’s expectations go.

Now as our family faces Mom’s passing I am faced with a question about how I will navigate ministry after her passing. Without her health concerns to guard, guide and keep me focused, will I fall back into old habits of being consumed by the ministry expectations of others? Will the old monster of approval addiction once again rear its ugly head and take control of how I work?

My coach asked me a good question in my last session with him: “What will be the new governors of your ministry work?”

I do worry about my ability to say “No!”

I do worry that my agenda will not be enough.

I know I need an intentionally thought out plan or I may just go back to…. old ways….old days.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU USE TO KEEP YOURSELF FROM GETTING DISTRACTED?

SABBATH THOUGHTS ON HOPE

March 19, 2024March 18, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Today I am preparing my heart for what passes as Sabbath these days. That will be tomorrow; So today I am making a list of thoughts I will be meditating on as I pass through my times of prayer on the morrow.

PREPARING OUR HOMES PT. 2

March 18, 2024March 16, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

As 2024 began The Lord gave Cornerstone Church a directive we are calling the congregational sentence. It reads: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

Over the course of the next several weeks these seven “prepare statements” will be broken down into 21 weekly devotionals. This is devotional number 8 in our series. It is entitled,

Prepare your infrastructures (your structures, infrastructures and plans)

There is a certain sense, when we talk about preparing our structures that we understand we are talking about very practical activities. We understand it means to clean our bathrooms before company arrives. It means to stock up on some extra groceries in expectation of guests. We can even understand the very practical nature of preparing our hearts to be more intentionally welcoming when guests arrive at our church door(make sure you introduce yourself to the new people). But what does to mean to prepare our infrastructures? What even is an infrastructure?

Infrastructure-the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities of a community.

In community/ church life there are three kinds of Infrastructures we are concerned with preparing:

1. SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE- THESE ARE OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEMS. IN PREPARING THESE WE ARE STRENGTHENING THE CONGREGANTS HEART OF GENEROSITY AND THE LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS CONCERNING STEWARDSHIP OR GIFT MANAGEMENT. AS WE PREPARE WE CONFRONT THE STRONGHOLDS OF POVERTY, SELF-CENTEREDNESS AND ENTITLEMENT.

2. HARD INFRASTRUCTURE-

THESE INCLUDE OUR CHURCHES FACILITIES, ACCESS AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS.

HOW EASY IS IT FOR OUR PEOPLE TO GET INTO AND OUT OF THE CHURCH BUILDING? HOW EASY IS IT FOR NEW PEOPLE TO FIND THEIR WAY AROUND THE BUILDING?

WHAT IF A PERSON CANNOT DRIVE OR HAS NO CAR? CAN THEY COME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY? CAN THEY COME TO YOUR DLT GROUP? HOW?

HOW DO WE COMMUNICATE IMPORTANT NEWS IN OUR CONGREGATION? IS OUR METHOD EFFECTIVE?

3. CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE- THESE WE WILL DEFINE AS OUR EMERGENCY PROCEDURES. HOW DO WE FUNCTION IN AN INTERNAL EMERGENCY? HOW DO WE RESPOND TO AN EMERGENCY A COMMUNITY WIDE EMERGENCY?

WHAT ARE OUR SECURITY PROTOCOLS?

SHOULD OUR COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE SOME SORT OF DISASTER ARE WE PREPARED TO INTENTIONALLY HELP? HOW?

IN LIGHT OF THESE QUESTIONS WHAT QUESTIONS COME UP IN YOUR HEART? WHAT ARE YOU PRAYING FOR TODAY CONCERNING OUR INFRASTRUCTURES?

FOUR THINGS

March 17, 2024March 16, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

As I have been in my place of contemplation during the days of my Mom’s hospice care, I have come to realize that as a minister I am focused on four things.

Photo by Download a pic Donate a buck! ^ on Pexels.com

The first focus of this part of my work is prayer. By prayer I mean five to six hours a day of deep abiding prayer. It has become my call and when I miss one of my prayer sessions I feel it.

The second focus of this work is the study of the Word of God, the Bible, and teaching it.

The third focus of this part of my ministry, is congregational visitation. One of the directives I feel God has set for me is to sit with every congregational member in an order for the purpose of encouraging and giving spiritual direction. This is not hospital visitation or counseling it is not crisis intervention. I feel I will be writing more about my ideas concerning crisis visiting in the future. In fact I am making a note of it right now. Suffice it to say, that crisis visits are a part of my work but not a focus of it. My focus is just visiting and being in the lives of the church body. Being a rather severe introvert I am surprised by how much I am enjoying this focus of the ministry.

The final focus of my work just now is leadership development. My desire is to see a second tier of leaders raised up in Cornerstone to replace those aging out of leadership (including myself) and to fill the slots of growing outreach in the community.

As my coach says, “What you say ‘Yes’ to automatically makes you say ‘No’ to other things.” So this is what I need to say yes to. It is what I have been saying yes to during the last three years and as I launch into the deep beyond THIS NEW THRESHOLD, I feel like I will be saying yes to these four things in an ever increasing measure.

WHAT IS YOUR BURNING YES?

SHARE YOUR WORLD FROM MARCH 11TH

March 16, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

This week I am participating in SHARE YOUR WORLD as my blog community connection post. The questions and my answers for this week are below. When you have finished reading my answers feel free to go on over to Pensitivity’s blog and read her other subscribers.

THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS:

1. What was your favourite pastime as a child? Pretending I was a superhero

2. Did you use colouring pencils, fibre tips, or wax crayons for your childhood drawings? I used crayons when I did draw or color, which was an infrequent occurrence. I was too busy pretending to be a superhero.

Photo by Anthony ud83dude42 on Pexels.com

3. Did you use a paintbox or have a ‘magic’ book where you only needed to brush the page with water? I do remember these fantastic little inventions with my kids. I didn’t have one but I do remember having an etch-a-sketch.

4. What kind of books did you read as a child? I loved comic books! My Favorite was the Justice League and the Avengers.

When I was a bit older I would play hockey from school and stay home to read fantasy novels. I did that with the whole Lord of The Rings series and The Chronicles of the Unbeliever

MY GRATITUDE FOR THIS WEEK:

I am so grateful that my kids gave me and Brenda a day off from hospice duty yesterday to go furniture shopping and to see Dune II.

THIS NEW THRESHOLD

March 15, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 12 Comments

One of the things I do to “sharpen the teeth” of my leadership saw, is a monthly coaching session designed to help me talk through issues I am concerned about. In these sessions I do almost all the talking. The coach is my “thinking partner”. He helps me by asking questions regarding my take on the subject matter I am discussing.

These last two months the coach has asked few questions during our sessions. I have come ready to talk…a lot…. about…thresholds.

Photo by Ekaterina Astakhova on Pexels.com

I realize that with the imminence of my mother’s passing, I am at one of life’s thresholds, one of those places where life changes from one thing into another.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels.com

From past experience I know threshold experiences can be jarring, even emotionally violent. Going back I can think of four or five threshold experiences: My Conversion

My marriage

My Father’s death, My divorce

Covid…

and now…this.

In the past I was mostly unaware that I was standing at a threshold. I was certainly unaware that with a little forethought I could have turned change into a self directed chance for the life God wanted for me and deeper fulfillment. I just kind of walked through the doors and let life play out in all its glorious confusion.

Don’t get me wrong with most of my thresholds I have ended up mostly where God wanted me to be. I am living the life He desires for me now. I think some of my thresholds were unnecessarily painful… maybe even entirely unnecessary. The past is past and the only thing it is good for is as a lesson. With this threshold I feel like I am Nemo at the edge of the reef getting ready to launch out into open ocean. There are many things I know this time that I have not known before. One of the those things is that as I near this threshold I need to be more intentional than ever before about how I intend to walk on the other side of the door.

WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM YOUR THRESHOLD EXPERIENCES?

STAYING HYDRATED

March 14, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

One of the things I have not talked too much about this year…or ever really I guess… is my weight loss journey. I have been on it for over a year now; so far I am further away from my goal than when I began.

I chalk that up to my current stress situation… Strange sleeping hours and weird eating schedules coupled with not enough water and a lot of emotional eating as well as eating the easiest thing to grab (like McDonald’s or pizza from my fav local pizzeria).

I realize life could stay like this for a while. I am now at the point where my belt doesn’t even fit comfortably.

I bought some suspenders the other day to get me through this TEMPORARY season of life.

I know I have to make some decisions that will get me going in the right decision, even if they are really small ones. in fact from my recent studies, I know the small maintainable decisions are the most helpful types of decisions, when trying to make significant lifestyle changes.

The small change that I am making today is to hydrate everyday. Specifically I am going to drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water everyday.

In order to do this I am going to stack my new water drinking habit with my well established prayer habits. I pray eight times a day…so now I will just add a glass of water to each prayer time.

From previous experience, I know that even small changes take a little while to turn into consistent behaviors…so the journey begins!

HOW DO YOU MAKE LIFESTYLE CHANGES?

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

ministry life