TODAY I WILL MAKE IT COUNT

January 20, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I heard from one of you that my blog which got posted at 12:01 A.M. today did not count as writing for yesterday, even though most of it was written before the stroke of midnight. Well, I am not going to let that happen again. It is 4:48 P.M. and I am finishing up my writing for the day. This one will “count” as being written today!

Actually today I managed a lot of writing. I finished up the last devotional thoughts for our churches annual 21 days of fasting and prayer. They are ready to be printed off in hard copy form tomorrow morning.

Our theme this year for the 21 days was, “PREPARE” and as we finish up our time of prayer I am asking the Lord to show me what our first steps are to do the work of preparing our church for what lies ahead. I am also asking God to show me what I need to do to prepare myself personally.

I don’t have all the answers yet. This one thing I know, I want what we do as a church to make a difference. I want what I do as a human being and as a Christian pastor to make a difference. I don’t want to show up only to find I am too late to do any good. I want this moment in time, this year, to…count.

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!

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEXT YEAR WILL BRING?

The Calm Before the Crazy

September 5, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I am in the Cumberland Mountain Range this week. Our scenic cabin is in a place called Eden Ridge.

There isn’t much to do here, except rest, and pray, contemplate and study. At some point, we will have to make our way back down the mountain for a little more grocery shopping and probably stop at the country club attached to this retreat center for a swim in the pool.

Today I have spent several hours in prayer and study. I put together the outlines for all the Royal Ranger devotions and church sermons through the new year.

Tomorrow I will put together the outlines through June.

One of the hours I spent in prayer was at The World Missions Park by the visitors center.

During that hour of prayer, I had a really strong sense that our congregation is about to face some challenges in the near future. Specifically, I feel as though God is going to challenge us to new levels of spiritual health. This will involve us letting go of some unhealthy cycles we have allowed our personal lives and relationships to fall into.

I have the sense that ministry is going to get increasingly complex when I get back.

I am grateful to God for this period of calm before what I think will be a period of crazy.

EMBRACING THE HOLY RHYTHM

March 22, 2023March 22, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

I just finished reading through my comments from my most recent blogs (it is a habit I used to have that I am trying to reestablish). Sister Brenda commented, “if I don’t keep my sabbath holy who will?“

I will take it one step further, “If I don’t keep my daily rhythm holy, who will?”

Sabbath is a part of a holistic life rhythm that leads to a Spirit-led life.

Some time ago God told me that “I needed to start allowing life to flow out of the prayer place rather than letting prayer be informed out of the living place.”

A rhythm of prayer flowing into living and then living flowing back into prayer, prayer being the source of the living rather than allowing living to be the source of prayer is necessary.

I am…have been learning to make my life a response to prayer rather than allowing my prayers to become a reaction to living.

This lenten season I am intentionally calling myself to seven times of prayer a day.

My “midnight prayers” are times of dreams and visions that are beginning to carry more and more weight in my daily living.

My “prayer of arising” is a time of meditating on the life of Jesus among the people.

My “midmorning prayer” is a time of hearing the heart of the Psalmist.

My “noon time prayer” is a time of hearing the heart of the Psalmist.

My “late afternoon prayer” isa time of joining my voice to the voice of the Worship Room either in person or most often remotely.

My “vespers” is another time of joining my voice to the Worship Room or to the Cornerstone Church prayer room.

“Compline” is that time just before bed to meditate through the Psalms as I prepare for the dream space of the midnight once again.

My position allows me to extend prayer deeper than most people can, but I know that in the days ahead we will all be expanding the prayer space.

WHAT DO YOU THINK GOD WANTS YOUR PRAYER SPACE TO LOOK LIKE?

FOUR HOURS

October 20, 2022October 20, 2022 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

On Sunday after church I had a wonderful opportunity to drive to Hartford Hospital to visit two of our parishioners who had been placed there for treatment

It is strange how health care is changing here in the Northeast. I have never had to go to Hartford before for a pastoral visit, but for some reason there were no beds in MA or NH to be had for what these ladies needed treatment for. One of them actually had to travel 3 and a half hours by ambulance to get there.

But I am a firm believer in the fact that God knows what He is doing and He has the people of our church in the palm of His hand.

The roundtrip drive to Hartford is 4 hours. It was a beautiful trip accentuated by autumn colored roadsides. I wish I had thought to stop and take some picture but these photos are near enough representations to show you the beauty I was driving through.

I seldom have four hours to myself. So the time to drive and talk with God was absolutely welcomed. I talked with Him about adjustments He is bringing to my life schedule. I asked Him about the upcoming pastor’s gathering at the Cape and how I am going to best use those hours. I listened to Him to hear what He would say about my next sermons on the step of love, and I prayed for the needs of several folks in our congregation who are sick like these two ladies.

The visits accomplished their God-given purpose and the time on the road did too. I am so thankful God gave me this extra time.

HOW DO YOU USE TRAVEL TIME?

The Wall Prayer Meeting From 9-23-20

September 24, 2020September 24, 2020 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

This Day At the Vicarage 9-18-20

September 18, 2020September 18, 2020 / joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

I have come to call my position of prayer the Sage’s Cave. It is not so much a place or even a position but a state of mind.

I started my prayer life (forty years ago now) like I imagine everyone does, with a list of things I hoped to get God to do. This kind of prayer is called petition/ intercession. Petitions are prayers for yourself (God heal my heart, God give me a new job). Intercession is prayer offered for others (God heal Sally’s heart, God give Sally a new job).

As I have grown into the Sage’s Cave I have found that the petition/intercession part of prayer has taken a very back seat in a rather large bus. It is not that there is anything wrong with petitions or intercessions. I still petition God for things. I still intercede for others. It is just that for me petitions and intercessions are the least relational prayers and I am very much more interested in knowing God and knowing what is on His mind than I am in getting stuff or things from Him.

I have somehow come to the position of seeking His face more than His hand as the song by Paul Wilbur says,

I do really struggle with this sometimes, because my prayer life is a lot of waiting and listening now. It feels like I am doing even less than I used to do in prayer and I know most people think prayer is useless unless it leads to an action of some kind.

I am learning to be content in the waiting. I am finding that is where the weight of God’s glory resides. Something inside of me tells me that waiting for His glory is my most important ministry now.

Sometimes as I am waiting. God gives me little things to do. Sometimes I see visions of things coming or of things already happening. Sometimes I get understanding of some Scriptural principle. Sometimes I get whole sermons. And then sometimes I just sit and hear nothing but the sound of my own breathing and the music or Scripture playing in the back ground.

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

prayer